The Two Doctors and Hatters
by loulouflowerpower
Summary: A plot is afoot and the 2nd Doctor and Hatter are caught right in the middle of it when their old friend turns out to be trying to unlock the Time Lords secrete of time travel in their DNA. The 6th Doctor and 5th Hatter are forced to team up with their past selves to try and prevent their very existence from being destroyed, and save the Doctor from being turned into an Androgum.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, only the Hatter.**_

 _ **This story will be updated once a week on each Friday/Thursday, depending on your time zone, but having said that, I might update twice a week the closer I came to starting school again on the 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **of February.**_

 _ **The Two Doctors and Hatters, part 1**_

The Second Doctor, looking slightly older due to the stress of everything with the Time Lords, and Hatter stood at the TARDIS console, fiddling with the controls as Jamie stood just off to the side, wearing his kilt as he watched them work.

The Doctor looked across to him, "Come here, Jamie," he gestured to him and the human man moved to join him, looking curious. He broke into a broad smile, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, and looked over to the scanner on the wall, "Look at that".

On the scanner, an image of a very large spaceship floating in space appeared on the screen, looking like a city with high-rise buildings scattered across it.

"What do you think?" the Hatter glanced at Jamie, smiling brightly as she watched him move closer towards the screen, staring up at the image.

Jamie pointed up at the screen, his eyes widening, "Look at the size of that thing!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, Jamie," the Doctor nodded in agreement, eyeing the image, "It is a big one".

The Time Lady coughed, raising a hand, "Ah, can we not go down that garden path?" she looked back and forth between the two men, receiving a confused look from them both. She sighed, shaking her head, "You can't see how badly that might have sounded had someone not known the context?"

Jamie simply looked blank while the Doctor seem to rethink what he had said and a blush spread across his face, looking startled, "Hatter!" he practically yelped, spluttering, "That's not…what…how could you…?"

"Deep breaths, sweetheart," the Hatter laughed at his reaction, stepping around the console to him, and lightly patting his arm, "Goodness, someone looks a little red…" she remarked in a sing-song voice, reaching up with her other hand to touch his cheek.

"You've spending too much time around humans, my dear," he shook his head, still looking startled, but he couldn't help but lean into her hand, just a little bit.

She flashed his a cheeky grin, "I think you might be right. Spending time around Max certainly did change me, and Alice".

Jamie frowned up at the screen before glancing back over to the Time Lords, raising his eyebrows, "Just a wee laboratory, eh?" he gave them both a look, recalling what they had told them earlier about the place they were going to next.

The Doctor cleared his throat, trying to hide his disappointment as the Hatter lowered her hand, stepping away from him to stand beside Jamie, "Well, its…obviously…" he looked to Jamie, a little surprised by the discovering himself, "It's grown".

He pointed at the screen, "It's like twenty castles in the sky!" he cried, giving the Doctor a pointed look, "Are you sure we're come to the right place?" he turned around to the console, reaching out towards one of the controls.

The Hatter leaned across and battered his hand away, giving him a mildly scolding look, "Don't touch, Jamie," she warned him before smiling brightly, pushing her glasses up her nose. Had Jamie not been so used to the Time Lady's sudden mood changes, he probably would have been startled, "And of course this is the right place," she continued cheerfully, "I helped fly the old girl, didn't I?"

"Even with your help, Hatter, we don't always get where you say we're going," he pointed out, remembering, though it might not have happened very often, a few times that the Time Lords had worked at the controls together and still managed to end up in the wrong time and place.

She raised her chin higher, throwing the Doctor a look, "Yes, well, if someone would let me take the brakes off…"

The Doctor hurriedly cut across her, really not wanting to start talking about _that_ again, "I got Victoria to where she wanted to go," he reminded them before frowning slightly, "Though, why she wants to learn graphology, I've no idea…" he shook his head.

"Ah!" Jamie gave the Doctor a look as he moved around to the other side of the console, "Will we ever get back to her, though?"

He gave him a mildly exasperated look over the controls, "Of course we will".

"I'll believe that when I see it".

"Oh, never mind that!" the Hatter said loudly before the Doctor could retort, practically skipping around the other side of the console, her red scarf hanging around her neck swinging as she did so, "We have far more important things to be discussing," she glanced at the Doctor, raising her eyebrows, pointing down to the console before her, "Take this, for instance".

The Doctor move to her side, giving her a curious look, before looking to where she was pointing to see a small glass dome had been fitted to the controls, and within the dome was a small, silver device.

At once, he felt a flash of anger hit him, because that had most certainly not been there before, "Look at this!" he exclaimed, outraged,

"What?" Jamie asked, stepping over to see for himself. He blinked slightly in surprise, looking curiously down at the device, "Hey, I've not seen that before," he commented, nodding down to it.

"It's not been there before," he huffed, glaring down at it as the Hatter tried hard to hide her amusement, "It's a teleport control," he looked up at the ceiling, shouting, "You'd think we'd never flown a TARDIS before!"

"Doctor, that's not going to help matters," the Hatter shook her head, giving him an amused look, "All it does is make you look like the crazy person here, which, granted, is pretty close to the truth".

He turned to her, still looking annoyed, but it was obviously not directed at her, "Oh, and you are just the perfect model of sanity?" he raised his eyebrows at her, breaking into a small smile.

"Why, of course I am, sweetheart".

"What's it do?" Jamie cut in, nodding down the teleport control.

The Time Lady cleared her throat, looking to him, "Well, Jamie, it gives the Time Lords dual control…" she began to explain to him.

"Infernal cheek!" the Doctor grumbled, leaning closer towards the Hatter and Jamie, "I shall complain when this is over," he informed them.

"Like they will pay any attention," the Hatter scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly.

He stepped around the console, looking thoughtfully down at the controls, "Now, then," he reached out and fiddled with a couple of buttons, glancing back across to the scanner with the image of the ship still on it, "I think we'll just dematerialise to avoid their detection, and slip in quietly".

Jamie crossed his arms, frowning at the Doctor, "Eh…I thought you two said they were friendly".

"Oh, they are," the Hatter assured him, smiling slightly, "Very much so, I imagine".

"Then why are we slipping in _quietly_?" he questioned, looking confused.

The Doctor turned to him, "Jamie, some of the most brilliant scientists in the Universe have assembled here to work together in pure research," he explained to him patently, smiling slightly as he shook his head, "The Hatter and I don't want them to know that we're arrived".

"Why not?"

"Think of the commotion!" he replied, pulling a small oil can from out of his pocket, "They'll all be scrambling around, wanting our autographs…"

"Oh, we are modest today," the Hatter laughed quietly, giving him an almost fond look.

"No, no, no," he continued, a small smile crossing his face, having heard the Time Lady's remark. He leaned closer to the console, trying to hide his smile as he began oiling a lever, "We just want a quiet word with old Dastari, Head of Projects," he finished oiling the lever, slipping the can back inside his coat pocket, and reached for the lever, "Right then…"

The Time Lady grabbed hold of the console, casting the Doctor a wary look, "Jamie, you might want to grab hold of something," she advised, and the Scottish man quickly grabbed hold of the console, too.

The Doctor struggled with the lever for a moment, pushing it upwards with all his strength as it began to creak, slowly moving, before suddenly jerking into place, almost causing the Doctor to land face first into the console. The entire ship shuddered and jerked before calming almost at once.

"Splendid!" the Doctor smiled broadly as he straightened, clapping his hands together, almost as if none of the shaking had happened at all. He glanced at Jamie, who was still clutching on to the console, "We've hit conterminous time again," he informed him.

Jamie eyed him, slowly straightening, "Well, we've certainly hit something".

"No, Jamie," he gave him another exasperated look before smiling slightly, reaching up to straighten his bow tie, and glancing at the Hatter, "Right, follow us," he held out his elbow to the Time Lady, who happily slipped her arm through his, and began heading towards the doors, "Wait!" they stopped suddenly.

"What?" the human man questioned, running into them, "What?"

"I think we ought to take the recall disk," the Hatter slipped her arm from out of the Doctor's, hurrying back over to the controls, and popped the top of the glass covering off, grabbing the device.

"And Jamie?" the Doctor cast him a stern look as the Hatter slipped the device inside her pocket, "Don't go wandering off. Stay with us".

"Do I ever?" Jamie raised his eyebrows at him.

He gave him another look, "It has been known," the Hatter reached across the console, hitting the switch to make the doors swing open, before she walked back over to them, and linked her arm with his. He paused, still looking at Jamie, "And…er…let us do the talking," Jamie crossed his arms, not looking entirely pleased, "All you have to do is to stand in the background, and admire our…"

"Diplomatic skills," all three of them finished in unison.

He cleared his throat, looking slight embarrassed, "Yes, well…"

The Hatter laughed, patting his arm soothingly, "Come on, sweetheart".

They stepped outside to find themselves in large kitchen with raw meat hanging from shelves, half prepared food left out on the counters with a number of very large knives laying around, and standing before them, staring at them, outraged was a man with bushy, bright red eyebrows and little grey warts covering his face with a very large sword hanging off his hip, along with several other knives and what appeared to be spices.

The Time Lords recognised his species immediately and exchanged a quick, wary look as the Doctor took a half step froward in front of the blonde Time Lady.

"How dare you!" the man shouted at them, waving a large hand around at them, glaring at the TARDIS behind them, "How dare you transmate that _object_ into my kitchens?"

The Doctor stepped towards him, growing highly annoyed, "How dare you have the impertinence to address us like that?" he snapped.

"Doctor…" the Hatter sighed, eyeing his back worriedly. Honestly, of all the times he had to start demanding things and acting like…well, like a Time Lord he had to pick to do so to an Androgum, a being who could easily physically hurt him.

The man threw him a furious look before striding across to one of the kitchen benches, grabbing a very large curving knife, and whirled back around to face them, pointing the knife at them, "I am Shockeye, o' the Quauncing Grig!" he told them proudly.

The Doctor shook his head, "I'm not interested in the pedigree of an Androgum," he marched across to the room.

"Stay!" Shockeye ordered.

He came to a stop, rising his head higher, glaring across the room to the alien, "I am a Time Lord".

"Oh, oh…" his eyes widened, looking at him in a completely different light, "My humblest apologies," he held the knife closer to his chest, completely ignoring the Time Lady and Jamie as he sheepishly moved closer to the Doctor, who backed up until he hit one of the benches, trapping him. He eyed Shockeye as he bowed to him, "I should have realised," his eyes drifted across to Jamie and the Hatter, "But these…these two are with you?"

The Doctor glanced over to them, "He is from the planet Earth," he informed him quickly, "A human," but before he could say anything more in regards to the Hatter, Shockeye cut across him.

"Tellurian's?" he gasped, growing excited, obviously assuming that the Hatter was human, too, "Oh!" the Time Lady grabbed Jamie's arm, pulling him slightly behind her as the alien moved closer towards them, "I have not seen these before," he glanced back over to the Doctor, who was watching worriedly, "Is it a gift for Dastari?"

"A gift?" he repeated, alarmed.

Shockeye stepped closer to the Hatter, licking his lips, "Oh, such a soft white skin…" he began to circle the Time Lady and Jamie, holding his knife up, "Whispering of tender succulence…"

"That's quite enough of that!" the Hatter interrupted, fixing Shockeye with a sharp look, feeling slightly ill by the way he was hungrily eyeing herself and Jamie, and while she might not have been overly happy about possibly angering a being that could easily break even a Time Lords arm, she couldn't listen any longer to how tasty she and Jamie looked, "I am a Time Lady, so kindly stop waving that knife at me!"

He stopped sharply, his eyes widening again, and he quickly bowed to her, "My deepest apologises, my Lady, had I known…" he began.

"Yes, I'm sure you would have been quite charming," she remarked warily, rolling her eyes slightly as the Doctor sighed in relief, knowing that she was relatively safe, but that still left Jamie, who was very, very much in danger.

Shockeye straightened and, as expected, he set his eyes on Jamie, "Dastari will not appreciate its qualities, you know," he licked his lips again, eyeing Jamie hungrily before glancing over to the Doctor, "He has no sensual refinement," he took a deep breath, casting a look at Jamie, "Let me buy it from you".

"My companion is not for sale!" the Doctor told him firmly, growing angry once more, "And stay away from my best friend!" he added with a sharper edge to his voice, nodding to the Hatter.

"Sweetheart, I'm fine," the Hatter assured him, rolling her eyes at his protectiveness, or was that a bit of possessiveness thrown in, too? Quite honestly, she couldn't tell.

Shockeye walked closer to the Doctor, still holding his knife up, "I promise you, Lord, no chef in the nine planets would do more to bring out the flavour of the beast," he tried.

The Doctor stared at him angrily and pulled his arm from behind his back, revealing a large cucumber that he had obviously mistaken for a knife, "You get on with your butchery!" he demanded, waving the vegetable around before realising what it was, and blinking down at it. He huffed slightly and shoved the vegetable into Shockeye's chest, and quickly gestured to the Hatter and Jamie, "Come along, Jamie".

The Hatter happily hurried over to the Doctor, linking her arm through his once more as Jamie, carefully keeping his eyes on Shockeye, followed after them, walking backwards until they stepped out into a hallway. He soon caught up with the Time Lords as they looked around the hallway, almost running straight past them in his hast.

"Who was that?" Jamie asked them, pointing back down the hallways they had come from, his eyes wide.

"He called himself Shockeye of the Quauncing Grig," the Hatter replied with a small shrug, remembering how proud he had sounded when he had introduced himself.

"I know what he said, but…"

"He's an Androgum, Jamie," the Doctor cut across him as Jamie peeked around the edge of the wall, looking back down the hall, "The Androgums are the servitors here," he explained as they began to stroll down the hallway, "They do all the station maintenance".

"Ah, you mean a scullion," Jamie nodded in understanding.

"Yes, with a high opinion of himself," he agreed, shaking his head, "Chefs usually have".

"Personally, I wouldn't touch a single thing that came out of his kitchen," the Hatter remarked, grimacing, "When your chef eyes you quite so hungrily as he did, it rather puts you off the rest of his cooking".

"I won't allow him to lay a finger on you, my dearest Hatter," the Doctor told her firmly, pulling her closer to him.

She laughed, giving him a fond smile, "I can take care of myself, Doctor, but all the same, its sweet you care so much".

Suddenly, behind them, the sound of the TARDIS engines sounded from down the corridor, making them pause, and look back down the hallway.

"It's the TARDIS!" Jamie exclaimed, alarmed.

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look, not surprised in the slightest.

….. _ **Dastari's Office**_ ….…

The Time Lords stood side by side before Dastari's wooden desk in his office as he leaned back in his chair, while Jamie stood by his desk, trying to get a peek at the open folder on the table top. The office itself was large with a raised platform at the end of the room where Dastari sat, while the rest of the room was decorated with bookcases and modern sculpts, mostly made from metal, and a couple of chairs and tables were scattered around the room.

"I remember it very clearly, Doctor and Hatter," Dastari, an older looking man with neatly combed grey hair, and tinted glasses remarked to them. He glanced at Jamie and purposely closed the folder, catching sight of his curious eyes as Jamie quickly pretended to be looking at something else, "You came to our inauguration, bearing fraternal greetings from Gallifrey," he continued as he stood, stepping down from the platform, and approaching the Time Lords.

The Hatter cleared her throat a little awkwardly, glancing at the Doctor, who stepped over to one of the shelves lining the walls, fiddling with a small globe, "That was before we…shall we say, fell from favour?" she told him, shifting on the spot, "We've practically become exiles now days, I'm afraid".

"Yes, I heard something about that," he nodded, casting them a raised eyebrow look from behind his glasses, "But you still act on their instructions?"

The Doctor looked over his shoulder to him, "It's the price we pay for our freedom," he replied with a small frown.

"Needless to say, we've had no support at all from your people".

"You didn't honestly expect the Time Lords to help, did you?" the Time Lady gave him an incredulous look, shaking her head with a small laugh, "Oh, I would have expected better from you, Dastari. The Time Lords are strictly neutral, far too busy planning their boring speeches, you see?" she rolled her eyes towards the end.

The Doctor coughed, trying to cover up his laugh, but he could tell by the wink the blonde sent him she had noticed.

Dastari cleared his throat, not seeming to find the Hatter's last remark quite as amusing as the Doctor had, giving them both a serious look as he went on, "Nonetheless, there's been widespread disappointment among the other Third Zone governments".

"Don't chide us, Dastari," the Doctor shook his head, looking over his shoulder to him, "We're simply messengers," he moved across to another row of shelves, admiring the slightly larger globes sitting upon them as he brought his fingertips together in front of him, "Officially, we're here quite unofficially".

He sighed slightly, "You'll explain that paradox, I know".

He turned around to face the man, "We're pariahs," he explained with a small shrug, "Exiled from Time Lords society, so they can always deny sending us".

"And why have they sent you?"

"The Time Lords have been keeping a close eye on the experimentation in regards to time travel done by the Professors Kartz and Reimar," the Hatter informed Dastari, giving him a pointed look, "And they want them stopped".

"I see," Dastari commented, nodding slowly as he looked away from them briefly, and the Time Lady inwardly sighed, knowing that he certainly wasn't going to be happy, "And how do the Time Lords equate that with a policy of complete _neutrality_?" he questioned, fixing them both with a look.

"They don't have to," the Doctor answered, shaking his head as he gestured between himself and the blonde, "As I said, we have no official existence, so they can always deny sending us".

He chuckled sarcastically, walking past them, and back towards his desk, "Oh, typical," he scoffed, "Typical hypocrisy," a pretty, dark haired woman in a floor length silver gown entered the room, and he turned to her, "Yes, Chessene?"

Chessene came to a stop in front of Dastari, "I wondered if your guests require refreshment, Professor?" she asked, glancing over to the Time Lords and Jamie.

"Ah, well…" Jamie looked around questioningly to the Time Lords.

"Oh, that's very nice of you, but we'll have to decline," the Hatter gave Chessense and Dastari a polite smile, exchanging a wary look with the Doctor, "We ate before we arrived".

Jamie frowned at them, "Aye, but that was yesterday…" he began.

"One meal a day is quite sufficient, Jamie," the Doctor interrupted him quickly, his voice stern.

Dastari raised his eyebrows at them, seeming almost amused, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," the Time Lords said in unison as Jamie sighed slightly, looking mildly disappointed. The Hatter made a metal note to check her pockets once they were done, she usually carried some food in her pockets, and if not, he could always fill up on a bag of jelly babies.

He nodded and looked over to the dark haired woman, "Thank you, Chessene".

"Very good, Professor," Chessene smiled at him, giving him a nod, before leaving the room with a friendly smile to the Time Lords.

Dastair smiled, almost smugly as he looked across the room to the Time Lords, "Well, Doctor and Hatter, what did you make of our chatelaine?" he took his seat behind his desk.

The Time Lords heads snapped up, startled as they looked at each other, "Was she an Androgum?" they almost gaped at him, pointing over to where Chessene had just exited.

"She was," he corrected, clasping his hands together in his lap, seeming to enjoy the looks on their faces, "Now she's an Androgum TA. Technologically augmented," he clarified.

"I suppose I ought to have known," the Hatter frowned, shaking her head at Dastari, "She's one of your biological experiments," she pointed a stern finger to him, "You are playing with fire, Dastari, and those who do always get burnt in the end," she warned, and the Doctor nodded in agreement as he took a seat in an armchair in front of the desk.

"I've carried out nine augmentations on Chessene," he told them, ignoring her warning, sounding even prouder the more he spoke, "She's at mega-genius level now," he smiled faintly, "I'm very proud of her".

"Proud of _her_ , or your _own_ skill?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows at him.

"Perhaps a little of both, but all that Androgum energy is now functioning on a higher plane. She spends days in the databanks simply sucking in knowledge".

"She's still an Androgum," he argued stubbornly, "You can't change nature!"

Dastari leaned over the top of his desk, looking determined, "In Chessene's case, I believe I have," he insisted.

"Please, just listen, Dastari," the Hatter groaned loudly, stepping up onto the platform, and placing her hands on top of his desk, leaning closer towards the man, "As I said, you are playing with fire! You can take a person from their natural environment, but in the end, they will always fall back on their natural instincts!"

"Oh really, I expected something more progressive from you two," he sighed, slipping his glasses off as the Doctor joined the blonde. He looked back up to them, "Don't you understand the tremendous implications of my work?"

"Yes, that's why we say it's so dangerous!" the Doctor exclaimed.

He sighed again, this time even heaver, "Our races have become tired and effete," he tried to make them understand, a hint of frustration in his tone, "Our seed is thin," he stood from his chair, growing more passionate as he spoke, "We must hand the baton of progress to others. If I can raise the Androgums to a higher plane of consciousness, there's no limit to what that boiling energy might achieve".

The Time Lords exchanged a look before looking back to him, "Dastari, we have no doubt you could augment an earwig to the point where it understood nuclear physics," the Doctor conceded before raising his voice, trying to make him see reason, "But it'd still be a very stupid thing to do!"

… _ **Lakeside**_ ….…..

Peri sighed to herself, annoyed as she stood watching the Sixth Doctor sitting in a small chair, fishing in a little lake with his umbrella sitting open beside his chair, while the Hatter, having switched her beret hat for a wide brimmed, floppy sun hat, and had decided not to wear her usual tights lounged back in another chair, similar to the Doctor, reading a book.

They had been sitting by the lake for hours, the Doctor fishing, the Time Lady reading, and Peri trying to get a tan as the alien sun shone brightly overhead, making the already warm and desert-like planet they had landed on remind Peri a little of home, but eventually, she had grown bored of tanning. Even the Time Lords, who she could usually count on for a bit of amusing banter or bickering had barely said a word to each other since setting up beside the lake. She was actually starting to grow a little concerned, because she couldn't remember a time when they had been so quiet amongst each other before.

She looked around, trying to find something to amuse herself, when she noticed a couple of small rocks on the ground, and leaned down to pick them up, tossing one of the stones into the still water of the lake, causing it to land with a splash, sending ripples across the water.

"Don't do that!" the Sixth Doctor snapped almost at once, sounding highly annoyed as he threw her a small glare, but Peri couldn't even summon the energy to care, "You'll frighten the fish".

"Don't get snappy, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter said with a lightly scolding tone, hardly looking up from her book, far to use to telling this regeneration off for his irritable tendencies, not to mention his ego.

Peri glared back at him and tossed another stone into the lake, "What fish?" she resorted in a snarky tone before sighing, "Doctor, I'm bored. We've been here for hours".

The Time Lady snapped her book shut and put it in her lap, turning to the curly haired man in the chair beside her, "I agree with Peri," she told him, sighing heavily, "Fishing is even more boring than watching paint dry, or worse, attending a High Council meeting".

"You've spent the entire trip reading," he waved her off.

"Yes, for a lack of anything better to do," she rolled her eyes.

"Don't be so over melodramatic," he replied, rolling his own eyes at her, making her raise an eyebrow at him, "There's another fishing rode over there," he gestured to the other side of his chair, looking back across the water, "I'll teach you how to fish, then you'll see what you have been missing".

The Fifth Hatter groaned loudly and covered her face with her hands, "I know how to fish, Doctor," she informed him, trying to hold back her annoyance, "It's just that I _don't_ like fishing, and that remark about _me_ being melodramatic is rich coming from _you_ ".

He shook his head at her and took a deep breath, a small smile settling across his face, "You know, I think it was Rassilon who once said, 'there are few ways in which a Time Lord can be more innocently occupied, then in catching fish'".

Peri and the Time Lady scoffed loudly, "That's a whopper," the human woman remarked, grabbing her top, and pulling it over her bathing top.

"Where?" the Sixth Doctor almost leaped out of his chair, looking eager as he began scanning the lake, "I don't see one".

The Hatter stared at him before laughing, "You know, sometimes I wonder how we've managed to stay friends for all these centuries," she commented, watching him fondly, "But then you do something like this and it just all comes flooding back, sweetheart".

Peri gave him a pointed look, looking slightly amused as she caught sight of the pleased look that crossed his face at the Time Lady's words, "It was Doctor Johnson who said that, about money," she said to him.

He glanced at her before shrugging, "Well, what's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it?"

The Fifth Hatter paused, nodding slowly, "He does have a good point," she admitted after a moment.

"Anyway, you're not innocently employed in catching fish, are you?" Peri carefully made her way over the rocky lakeside, past the Time Lords, and over to where she had set up a small pillow a short distance from them, sitting down.

"They're just lazy today," he replied, looking back to the still water, "Any angler will tell you there are times when nothing will tempt them".

"That so?"

"The last time I fished this particular stretch, I landed four magnificent gumblejack in less than ten minutes," he told them proudly.

"Yes, how exciting," the Fifth Hatter muttered, rolling her eyes. Oh, she knew she ought to have stayed with Lily, who she had dropped off at her parents' house. That, at least, might have been more interesting than this.

Peri frowned at him, "Gumblejack?" she repeated.

"The finest fish in the galaxy, probably the Universe," the Sixth Doctor answered, giving her a look as if she had somehow managed to offend him, "Cleaned, skinned, quickly pan-fried in their own juices till they're golden brown," an almost dreamy look crossed his face just talking about it, making the Time Lady give him an amused look, "Ambrosia steeped in nectar, Peri. The flavour is unforgettable," he turned back to the lake when he suddenly stood, looking excited, "I think I've got a bite!"

The woman exchanged a look, "At last".

The end of the Doctor's fishing pole began bending as the water below rippled faintly, "That's it…yes," he urged, grinning broadly as he tightened his hold on the pole, "Give him his head…"

The Fifth Hatter stood and moved to his side, looking curious, "You've finally managed to catch something, have you?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. Perhaps once he had caught something they would leave.

"Yes," he nodded, still grinning as Peri stood, too, and joined them, "My word, this fellow's putting up a fight," he moved the pole around, "Stand by with the gaff, Peri".

Peri gave him a sharp look, "I'm not sticking that thing in a poor little fish!"

"Not so little, Peri," he began reeling the fish in, his eyes fixed on the water, "Not so little at all. By the feel of this, it might be a record…"

The fish popped to the surface, only it was tiny little fish, and the Doctor's face fell as the two woman laughed.

"Oh, wow, Doctor," Peri smirked at him, highly amused, "That must weigh very nearly an ounce".

"Be careful reeling it in, sweetheart," the Fifth Hatter added through giggles, "We wouldn't want you to put your back out".

"Yes…" he sighed slightly as he pulled the end of the line up to him, holding the tiny fish in his palm as it flopped around, "But did you see the one that got away?" he looked back to the girls as they continued to laugh, a faint blush covering his face, "That magnificent gumblejack that was trying to eat this poor little fellow. There," he pushed the pole into Peri's hand and carefully unhooked the fish, tossing it back into the lake.

The Time Lady cleared her throat, trying hard not to look to eager, "Does this mean we can leave now?"

….….. _ **Dastari's Office**_ …..….

Dastari sighed, retaking his seat behind his desk, and slipping his glasses back on, "Even if I wanted to, Doctor, Hatter, I have no authority to order Professors Kartz and Reimer to abandon their work".

"Oh, please stop talking to us as if we are idiots," the Second Hatter frowned at him, crossing her arms across her chest, "You are the Head of Projects, Dastari, which means you authorise all the experiments on this station".

"And what reason would I give?" he questioned, continuing with a slightly mocking tone, "That the Time Lords have expressed concern?"

The Second Doctor placed his hands on the desk top, leaning towards him, "Dastari, our monitors have already detected ripples of up to point four on the Bocher scale," he tried to make him understand, "Anything higher would threaten the whole fabric of time!"

"They are well aware of the dangers, Doctor. They are responsible scientists".

"They're incompetent meddlers!" he argued, and the Second Hatter nodded in agreement.

Dastari gave them a look, "Aren't you being a little ingenuous, Doctor?"

The Second Hatter frowned at him, pushing her glasses back up her nose, "And what is that supposed to mean, exactly?" she asked, eyeing him.

"Hasn't it occurred to you both that the Time Lords have a vested interest in ensuring that others do not discover their secrets?" he replied calmly.

The Time Lords paused and exchanged a quick look. The Hatter couldn't help but feel that Dastari had made a rather good point there, the Time Lords would lose a great amount of their power if the secrets of time travel was to be discovered by other races, but even still, they also had another very good reason for wanting to keep those secrets to themselves. She shuddered to think just what chaos could be caused if those who didn't understand the Laws of Time were to start meddling. Only the Time Lords could understand the full complexities of time, which is why, or though she might have felt that the Time Lords could have done more to help, she would always have to concede that time travel was better left in the hands of Time Lords.

The Second Doctor cleared his throat a little uncomfortably, looking back to Dastari, "Oh, I'm sure that's not the case…" he said slowly.

"I gather your own machine is no longer in the station," Dastari pointed out slyly, "Isn't that because you didn't want Kartz and Reimer to get a look at it?"

He shifted again, coughing slightly as he glanced at the Time Lady, "Look, I've a suggestion," he began and the Time Lady shot him a quick look, knowing that he was entering dangerous waters, "Stop these experiments for the time being, whilst our people study their work," he looked to Dastari, trying to give him a small smile, "If Kartz and Reimer really are on safe lines, I'm sure they'll be allowed to continue".

The Second Hatter sighed and closed her eyes tightly, "Oh, dear…" she murmured, hardly daring to even look at Dastari.

As she had expected, Dastari stood from his chair, staring at the Doctor with barley supressed anger, "Allowed to continue?" he repeated quietly.

"Idiot," the Time Lady nudged the Second Doctor's side, giving him a scolding look as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "You couldn't have let me handle it, could you?"

"Ah…" the Second Doctor winced slightly, giving her an apologetic look. On consideration, perhaps he should have left it up to her, since she always did have a way with words, possibly even more then him.

She looked at Dastari, flashing him a small apologetic smile, "The Doctor didn't mean for it to sound that way, Dastari," she tried to calm him, but she could already tell that the damage had been done, "All he meant was that allowing the Time Lords a chance to…shall we say, review the Professors work would merely ease any concerns that they might have".

Dastari took a deep breath, "In the first place, I have no authority to ask Kartz and Reimer to submit their work for analysis," he told them firmly, stepping around to the side of his desk, obviously struggling to hold back his anger, "And in the second place, the Time Lords have no right to make such a grossly unethical demand," the Second Doctor open his mouth, growing angry himself as the Time Lady grabbed his arm, "I've never heard such unmitigated arrogance!"

The Second Doctor stepped closer to him, pushing Jamie out of the way as the Time Lady sighed heavily, letting her hand fall back to her side, "And I've never heard such specious claptrap!" he glared at the other man angrily, "Oh, don't you prate to me about ethics! The balance of the space-time continuum could be destroyed by your ham-fisted numbskulls!"

Dastari turned away from him, shaking slightly as he leaned against his desk, and pulled off his glasses. The Second Hatter frowned slightly, growing concerned as she noticed how ill he had suddenly looked.

"I don't feel…" he pressed his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes, "…there's anything to be gained by prolonging this discussion, Doctor," he slowly sat back down in his chair.

"Dastari, you have more letters after your name than anyone I know," the Second Doctor said to his back, obviously not having noticed the other man's sudden change as the Second Hatter moved around Dastari's chair, eyeing him carefully, "Enough for two alphabets," he continued, "How is it you can be such a stupid, stubborn, irrational, and thoroughly objectionable old idiot?"

Jamie almost laughed.

"Doctor…" the Time Lady frowned, her eyes fixed on the ill looking man as she reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The Second Doctor turned on Jamie, "And what are you smiling at you…you hairy-legged Highlander?" he demanded.

Jamie shook his head, grinning, "I'm just admiring your diplomatic skills," he replied innocently.

"Pah!"

"Doctor, shut up!" the Time Lady called, casting him a stern look as his head snapped over to her, looking surprised, "If you weren't so busy insulting people, perhaps you would have noticed Dastari".

He blinked at her and looked to the man, doing a double take when he realised that he was slumped over his desk, apparently unconscious. He frowned, leaning closer to the man in concern.

"He's got his head doon, Doctor," Jamie remarked, nodding to Dastari, not seeming worried, "I can't say I blame him".

The Second Doctor grimaced, glancing at him, "I'll thank you not to speak in that appalling mongrel dialect".

He sighed, "I mean, he's gone to sleep," he corrected himself.

The Second Hatter carefully examined Dastari, checking his pulse, "He's not asleep, Jamie," she shook her head, her eyes widening in alarm as she looked across to the Doctor, "He's been drugged!"

"He's what?" Jamie asked, frowning as he moved to see for himself, when the sound of energy weapons being fired somewhere close by echoed through the room, making them all look up, "What's that?" he looked to the Time Lords.

The Time Lords looked at each other, growing more and more worried as they listened to the sound, "I would have thought a Jacobite would recognise that sound," the Doctor commented grimly.

Suddenly, a man in a lab coat ran into the room, looking frantic, "Professor!" he shouted urgently.

Out of view of the doorframe, an energy beam fired, hitting the man, who cried out in pain, and collapsed. The Time Lords ran to the man, kneeling on the floor to check him, but there was nothing either of them could do. White smoke began billowing into the room around them as they turned their attention down the hall where they could hear the sound of more fighting approaching.

"Jamie, run," the Time Lords ordered.

"What?" he exclaimed, staring at them.

"Run, I say!" the Second Doctor called quickly, not looking away from down the hall, "Save yourself!" Jamie did as he was told and ran back through Dastari's office, heading for the other exit, "Hatter, you go too…" he began.

"I'm staying with you, Doctor!" the Second Hatter cut him off stubbornly, "Jamie will be fine, but I'm not sure about you, sweetheart".

He sighed heavily, opening his mouth to argue when a Sontaran appeared from out of the smoke before them, aiming its weapon at them, and slowly, they held up their hands in surrender.

 _ **And finally, we have another classic era episode story. Classic Era is so much fun to write, though, a little complicated when it comes to trying to keep track of just what Doctor and Hatter's know what. Still, I like the challenge.**_

 _ **Now, there's nine chapters and one original chapter, though, I should mention that at this point I haven't actually finished the last two chapters yet, but I did say that I wanted to try and have this story published before Christmas and we've gone over that deadline a bit, so I figured I might as well publish on the first day of the New Year.**_

 _ **I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters, Part 2**_

 _ **The Sixth Doctor's TARDIS**_

The Sixth Doctor entered the TARDIS and opened his umbrella as he did so with a small, happy sigh, "We'll try our luck at the Great Lakes of Pandatorea," he remarked as he strolled further into the room, glancing over towards the open doors.

Peri struggled into the room, carrying a large picnic hamper that was heaver then she had first expected as the Fifth Hatter followed close behind her, leaning the fishing poles against her shoulder, looking quite casual, but the look she gave the Doctor said all it needed to about how she felt about his lack of help packing everything up.

"Must we?" the human woman huffed, dropping the hamper on the floor by a chair.

"Don't mind us," the Time Lady grumbled, throwing him a glare as she leaned the fishing poles against the back of the seat, "I'm only your best friend and Peri's your companion, plus maids, apparently".

"Hmm?" the Sixth Doctor hummed, not seeming to have really been paying attention to either of them as he closed his umbrella, "Oh, you've never seen such fish," he continued, happily sitting his umbrella down on the chair, "And as for the Pandatorean conga…" he glanced at Peri, "It's longer than your railway trains".

"I don't think I wish to know," Peri muttered, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked over all the fishing equipment, "What is all this fishing stuff, anyway?"

"It's restful, relaxing…" he replied.

The Fifth Hatter leaned closer to Peri, saying in a mock whisper, "Not to mention dead boring".

The Doctor turned to her, giving her an almost scolding look, "Now, Hatter, there's no need for that," he waggled a finger at her.

She narrowed her eyes and battered his finger away, "Don't wave that finger at me unless you want me to do something unpleasant, Doctor," she warned.

"Oh, and what would you do?" he asked, sounding amused.

"You might be my best friend, but that doesn't mean I'm afraid to bite you if you annoy me too much," she told him, but there was a hint of playfulness about the way she said it.

He stared at her for a moment and an odd look crossed his face, and he quickly cleared his throat, whirling around, and strolled over to the controls, keeping his back to the Time Lady, but Peri couldn't help but give his back a knowing look.

"We wouldn't want that, now, would we?" he coughed, keeping his back to the brunet Time Lady, "Anyway," he glanced back over to them after a moment, flicking a switch, closing the TARDIS doors, "I think I've been overdoing things," he commented thoughtfully, crossing one foot behind the other as he leaned against the controls with one hand, "I haven't felt at all…myself, lately".

Peri laughed before sighing softly, "I don't know which is yourself," she looked away from him.

"Exactly," he nodded, not noticing her sigh, "This re…" a strange look crossed his face as the Fifth Hatter frowned softly, a hand reaching up to rub her forehead. He took a small step away from the controls, looking off into space, "…generation…"

"Doctor?" Peri questioned, giving him a worried look before glancing at the Time Lady, only growing more worried when she realised that she seemed to be experiencing the same thing, "Hatter?"

"Some…" the Fifth Hatter began, her speech sounding almost slurred as she swayed on the spot, closing her eyes tightly, "…thing…"

Suddenly, both Time Lords fell face first onto the floor, not making the slightest attempt to even stop themselves from hitting the ground as they landed beside each other.

"Doctor!" Peri cried, running over to them "Hatter!" she crouched beside them, trying to shake them as both Time Lords began coughing, almost seeming to be curling in on themselves, "What's wrong?" she tried to ask fearfully.

….. _ **Space Station corridor**_ …..…

Jamie watched, horrified through a grate set up high on the wall along one of the corridors, standing on top of a metal crate as the Second Doctor and Hatter were trapped inside glass, circular tubes that was connected from the floor, all the way up to the ceiling where a blue light shone above them. Both Time Lords were withering around inside they're separate tubes, looking as if they were in agonising pain, screaming silently.

"Doctor and Hatter!" he hissed desperately through the grating, but it was no use. He leaned down to his boot and pulled out his knife, and tried to use it to open the grating, when he paused, hearing the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, just as Shockeye rounded the corning, carrying a large plastic container.

Shockeye spotted him at once and sat the container on the floor, eying Jamie hungrily as he jumped down from the crate, pointing the knife threateningly at the alien.

"Whoa, there," the alien called to him, holding up his hands to Jamie, sounding more like he was talking to an animal then another person, "Steady now," Jamie began backing away from him but he simply followed, licking his lips, "Quiet, boy," Jamie tried to make an escape down another hallway, but Shockeye cut him off, forcing him into a corner, "Easy! Shockeye will not hurt you".

He reached out towards him and Jamie slashed his knife at him, cutting his hand.

"Oh, we are wild, aren't we?" Shockeye eyed him, pointing a finger at him once he had checked his cut.

"Shockeye!" a woman's voice called from down the hall, catching both men's attention, and Jamie realised that it was Chessene's voice, "Why aren't you on the ship?" she demanded, having not caught sight of Jamie.

Shockeye walked over to her quickly, "I was just collecting some provisions, madam," he told her.

"The ship is fully stocked".

"Oh, but the standard rations are so boring. These are a few special things for the journey. A cold collection I prepared".

Seeing his chance, Jamie darted out of his hiding spot, and off down another hallway.

…. _ **The Sixth Doctor's TARDIS**_ ….…..

Peri looked anxiously back and forth between the Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter as their strange coughing fit seemed too subsided, but they still remained curled up on the floor, both seeming unconscious. She watched them carefully, wondering if she should try to do something, anything to try and help make them more comfortable. She might have been able to grab the Hatter's arms and try to pull her into a chair or something. Might being the key word, since the Time Lady was a few inches taller then her, but she knew that she wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough to lift the Doctor.

Just as her worry began to reach desperation, she noticed the Hatter's eyes flickering, and slowly, she began to wake up. She remained lying on her side, seeming confused as she blinked bleary, just as Peri noticed that the Doctor had also began regaining consciousness, seeming just as confused as the Time Lady.

"Doctor, Hatter…er…are you alright?" she asked them worriedly, looking in-between them as she watched them carefully.

"Of course we're not alright!" the Doctor snapped, apparently regaining the use of his voice as he struggled to pull himself into a sitting position. His eyes flew immediately over to the Time Lady, seeming to be checking her over quickly, before a look of relief crossed his face as the Time Lady, rubbing her forehead with a small, painful frown also began pulling herself up right, "Hatter?" he looked at her, concerned.

"No lasting damage done…" the Fifth Hatter replied, shaking her head before pausing, meeting his eyes with a wary look as she slowly reached out for her hat that had fallen off during her coughing fit, sticking it back on, "I think," she finished grimly.

He nodded and glanced at Peri, who was still watching them both anxiously, "What happened?" he questioned her.

Peri hesitated, unsure herself as to how to even describe what had happened, never having seen anything quite like it before, "I…I think you both fainted".

He gave her a mildly affronted look, "I never faint," he told her sternly.

"It would be a bit odd, the two of us fainting at the same time," the Fifth Hatter remarked, looking thoughtful as she continued to rub her forehand. She wasn't sure if it was due to hitting the ground face first or because of whatever else was happening to herself and the Doctor, but she had a terrible headache, and it was making things quite hard to think, too, "It was like…" she frowned, trying to think of the right word, looking back over to Peri and the Doctor, "…like a weakness suddenly came over me".

"Yes, I felt that way, too," the Sixth Doctor agreed, his eyes slowly brightened, and he sat up straighter, "I remember now," he looked off into space, recalling what he had experienced, "I felt a weakness and then I…I was in another place".

"Exactly," the Time Lady nodded, still frowning, "But it was more than just that…"

Peri sighed slightly and reached out to lightly touch the Doctor's upper arm, "Can I get you two anything?" she looked in-between them, but they both seemed lost in thought, "Celery!" she suggested, trying to smile as she looked at the Doctor, "That's what you need".

"Celery…yes," he looked back to her, his voice soft but it quickly returned to its normal pitch as he pulled himself back onto his feet with surprising speed, brightening again as Peri rose with him, "And the tensile strength of…" he paused with a small frown, "…jelly babies!"

The Fifth Hatter looked up at him, still sitting on the floor, and shook her head, "Those were your last two regenerations, Doctor," she reminded him, before shrugging slightly, "But then again, you always have been fond of jelly babies, so that hardly counts".

He nodded absently and a confused look crossed his face again, "But I…I had a clarinet…or was it a flute?" he wondered aloud, mimicking playing a flute with his hands, shaking his head, "Something you blew into…"

"I think I might have had…glasses," the Time Lady said slowly, scrunching up her face thoughtfully as she carefully and slowly pulled herself onto her feet, taking a moment to steady herself against the edge of the console as she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. As the dizziness passed, her hand moved to her neck, "And…there was…a tie?" she shook her head, "No, that's not right. Something…woollen, I think".

Peri looked back and forth between the Time Lords, still looking worried for their strange, muddled behaviour, "A glass of water?" she offered helpfully.

"Water?" the Sixth Doctor repeated, considering it for a moment, "No, don't think so…" he brightened again, "A recorder! That's what it was," he frowned, looking troubled as he touched the side of his head, looking to Peri and the Hatter, "Some kind of mind lock".

The Fifth Hatter's hand flew to her mouth, "Of course!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in realisation, "And it was a scarf! A red scarf".

Peri sighed and shook her head at them, "You're not making any sense".

"We are making perfect sense!" he turned to her, growing even more worried, his eyes moving to rest almost fearfully on the Time Lady, "We were being put to death!"

"I think you should sit down," Peri put a gentle hand on the Doctor's arm, trying to guide him away from the console.

He began to sit down on the ground, but quickly leaped up, "Sit down!" he shouted, his head snapping back around to look at her, his eyes wide, "They're executing us!"

"But that doesn't seem right," the Fifth Hatter cut in, frowning deeply as she slowly shook her head, "Because that's not how it ended, so really, it's not possible".

Peri gave them a confused look, "What isn't possible?"

"The fact that the Doctor and I are currently existing right now," the Time Lady explained to her, still frowning, seeming very distracted, "We're here, right now, therefore we couldn't possibly have been killed back then".

The Sixth Doctor nodded along with her before turning back to Peri, who just looked even more confused, "That is irrefutable logic, isn't it?"

Peri put a hand on his arm again and glanced at the Hatter, trying to give them a comforting smile, seeing how distressed they were getting themselves, "Don't worry about it," she tried.

"But the there and then subsumes the here and now," he continued, not paying any attention to his companion, "So if we were killed then, we could exist now as some sort of temporal tautology," he looked at the Hatter, who nodded in agreement, "That also is irrefutable".

Peri sighed heavily, patting his arm comfortingly, "Circular logic will only make you dizzy, Doctor, Hatter," she said to them worriedly.

"Indeed," the Fifth Hatter nodded slowly, almost as if she had been paying attention to Peri, but the other woman quickly realised by the distracted look still on her face that she really hadn't heard a word she had said, "But it's highly likely that this whole thing is due to not having properly synchronised yet," she meet the Sixth Doctor's eyes, frowning, "Perhaps it's…some kind of time-slip in the subconscious, that is possible, I suppose".

"Perhaps you two should see a doctor," Peri suggested quickly, looking between them.

The Sixth Doctor paused and shot her a look, "Are you trying to be funny?" he narrowed his eyes at her.

She shook her head, looking completely serious, "No, it was just a suggestion".

"That's a very good idea," the Fifth Hatter smiled brightly, leaning around the console to pat Peri's arm, giving her an approving look, "Well done, Peri. I don't know why we didn't think of it before".

The Doctor seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding in agreement, "Yes, that's not such a bad idea," he reached inside his coat pocket and began shuffling through the contents, before withdrawing a very thick stack of plastic card holders.

The Time Lady raised an eyebrow at him, looking amused, "Dear me, Doctor, I'm surprised you don't walk sideways carrying that lot about," she remarked.

"I could say the same thing about some of the dresses you wore on Gallifrey," he replied, casting her an almost playful look.

She groaned and covered her face, shaking her head as if just thinking about it caused her physical pain, "Please, don't remind me," she muttered, lowering her hands with a grimace, "The Time Lords, by far, have the worst dress sense…" she paused, giving him a pointed look, "That coat just proves my point".

He raised his chin higher, looking offended as he brushed a hand down the front of his coat, "There's nothing wrong with my coat," he told her sharply, throwing Peri a sharp look as she scoffed. He huffed slightly and turned his attention back to the stack of cards, lifting the top one up, "Now, then, Archimedes," he began, "Fascinating chap, bit wet," he allowed the cards to unravel across the floor as he continued to looked through them, "Brunel. Christopher Columbus…" he gave Peri a pointed look, "He had a lot to answer for".

The Fifth Hatter moved to his side, giving him a scolding look, "Don't be rude, Doctor," she gave Peri an apologetic look over her shoulder as the other woman sighed, looking exasperated. She leaned closer to the Doctor's side to get a closer look of the list of cards, not noticing the way he moved closer at her proximity, "Hmm…Dante," she looked over the cards, "Da Vinci…" she broke into a smile, "Oh, of course, Dastari!"

The Sixth Doctor smiled broadly, too, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "Joinson Dastari, HP One," he nodded happily, "Head of Projects, Space Station Chimera, Third Zone," he whirled around and draped the cards around Peri's neck, like a scarf, "That's him!" he cheered.

Peri frowned, stumbling back slightly in surprise as the Time Lords moved back over to the console, typing something into the controls, "Who?" she asked.

"Dastari!" he glanced back over to her, looking mildly annoyed by her slowness as Peri pulled the cards from around her neck, "The pioneer of genetic engineering".

"It should be quite interesting, either way," the Fifth Hatter added as she moved around to the other side of the console, fiddling with the controls, "Dastari and his scientists do some truly brilliant and fascinating work," she paused, looking over the console to the Doctor, looking excited, "Ooh, do you think they would let us take a look at their research on Rho mesons as the unstable factor in pin galaxies?" she wondered aloud brightly.

"I can hardly wait," Peri laughed sarcastically as she restacked the cards, sighing, "What are pin galaxies?" she questioned, turning back around to the console, and sitting the cards on the top of the controls.

"Hmm?" the Sixth Doctor hummed, to busy working on preparing the controls, before he glanced at her, "Oh, they're galaxies within the Universe of the atom," he explained, focusing on the controls once more, "Difficult to study. They only exist for one atto-second".

"Even the Time Lords can find them tricky," the Fifth Hatter informed Peri, still seeming quite excited about the prospect of getting a chance to see what research had been done on the subject.

Peri closed her eyes briefly, shaking her head, "Doctor, Hatter, I have no idea what that means".

"It means you have to be quick," the Sixth Doctor answered, still focused on the controls, "An atto-second is a quintillionth of a second," Peri wondered around to stand on the other side of him, just as he straightened and looked across the Time Lady, who nodded, grabbing the edge of the console, "Right, here we go," he hit a switch, sending them off.

The TARDIS began shaking and jolting violently for a moment, throwing the Doctor and Peri, who hadn't grabbed hold of the console to steady themselves, back a few steps, before calming quickly.

The Fifth Hatter let go of the console and moved around to them, giving Peri a apologetic look, "Sorry, I ought have warned you the landing would be a bit rough," she gave her a sheepish smile.

Peri gave her a look as she recovered from the shook, "Yeah, thanks," she grumbled sarcastically.

The Sixth Doctor stepped back over to the controls and began fiddling with them, "You know, that was a good idea of mine, wasn't it?" he remarked thoughtfully after a moment, looking a little smug.

"What?" Peri looked at him, confused.

He held his hands out in a sweeping gesture, as if it was perfectly obvious, "Getting medical help".

Peri and the Fifth Hatter exchanged a look, and the Time Lady closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head, both woman looking highly exasperated.

"Typical," the Time Lady moaned softly.

….

Peri opened the TARIDS door and stepped out as the Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter stepped out behind her to find themselves in a dimly lit kitchen with rotting vegetables and meat hanging from hooks and left sitting out on the counters. The Time Lady winced as the smell hit her, making her feel ill as she cast her eyes around the room.

"Ugh!" Peri exclaimed, scrunching up her face in disgust, "Oh, it's foul!" she glanced back to the Time Lords, giving them a wary look, "Are you sure it's safe?"

The Sixth Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind them as the Fifth Hatter raised her arm covered in the sleeve of her coat up to her nose, "It seems relatively safe," she remarked, her voice slightly muffled, "There seems to be enough oxygen".

"Yeah, but that awful smell!"

The Sixth Doctor put his hands inside his trouser pockets, strolling further into the room, "Mainly decaying food," he replied, sniffing the air, "…and corpses," he added, exchanging a grim look with the Time Lady.

Peri blinked and looked at him, startled, "Corpses?" she repeated.

"That is the smell of death, Peri," he cringed slightly, moving around the room as he eyed the decaying food on the counters around them, "Ancient musk, heavy in the air," he looked back over to the woman, "Fruit-soft flesh, peeling from white bones. The unholy, unburiable smell of Armageddon," he walked closer to them as the both woman looked quite ill, "Nothing quite so evocating as one's sense of smell, is there?"

The Fifth Hatter closed her eyes tightly, "Please, sweetheart, stop talking," she muttered, looking very pale.

Peri didn't look any better, "I feel sick," she swallowed.

The Sixth Doctor nodded, placing a hand on the Time Lady's arm, giving them both a sympathetic look, "I think you'll feel a good deal sicker before we're finished here," he finished.

They turned and left the room, and out to a very dimly lit corridor, but at least the air no longer smelt of anything decaying. As they began to make their way down the corridor, they looked around, and noticed on one of the walls there was a large section the metal panelling that had been badly chard with an energy blast. The Time Lords stepped closer to it.

"That's from a laser bolt," the Fifth Hatter assessed, eyeing the still slightly smoking area as Peri joined them to see for herself.

The Sixth Doctor sighed heavily, taking the Time Lady's hand as they turned, and started making their way further down the corridor, "And there," he added, pointing over to another wall that had a similar chard panel, "It must have been quite a fight," he commented.

"Look!" Peri called, hurrying a few steps passed them, and picking up a very bloody, once white lab coat that had been left on the ground. She held it up for them to see, looking worriedly at the blood stains.

The Time Lady winced as she reached out and took the lab coat from Peri, careful to avoid touching the blood, "This whole thing must have happened only recently," she said thoughtfully, her eyes moving from the coat as she dropped it back on the floor to around the rest of the darkened corridor, "The atmosphere would have cleared, otherwise".

Peri swallowed nervously, looking at the Time Lords, "Do…do you think we should go any further?"

The Sixth Doctor's head snapped around to look at her, looking surprised, "What?" he exclaimed.

"Well, I mean, if there's no one left alive, there's nothing we can do now, is there?"

The Fifth Hatter gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her a small smile, "I understand your concern, Peri," she told her, "Truly, I do, but whatever happened here, it cost people their lives," she gestured down to the bloody coat on the ground to further her point, "And we owe it to those people to find out what happened. And besides…" she paused, her smile turning wider and brighter, "When have you ever known the Doctor or myself to back down from a mystery?"

"Look, you can go back to the TARDIS if you like," the Sixth Doctor nodded back down the corridor, towards the kitchen, before focusing his attention off down the rest of the corridor, not seeming overly concerned, either way.

"No!" Peri said quickly, her eyes widening at the thought of going back to those kitchens, alone, "I'll…I'll stay with you two".

He looked back to her and nodded, almost mockingly, "Hmm," he began to stroll off down the corridor, still holding the Time Lady's hand as Peri followed after them. He cast his eyes around the corridor as they went, "When I first saw this station, I thought of a comet strike, or some sort of natural disaster," he frowned.

"Yes, so did I," the Fifth Hatter agreed as they rounded a corner, heading down a second corridor, "But after having seen those laser bolts, I think we can safely say this was done deliberately".

He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Now, what kind of monster would want to stop the brilliant work that was being done here?" he shook his head, sounding slightly angry as they paused in the middle of the corridor. The Hatter really couldn't blame him for getting upset, she certainly felt angry about the idea of so much wonderful research being destroyed, not to mention all those lives lost, "Pure research, for its own sake, it threatened no one," he continued.

"It threatened the Time Lords," a male voice announced through the corridor.

The Time Lords paused, exchanging a quick look, "Would you care to repeat that?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows up at the ceiling.

"It threatened the Time Lords".

"And what put that idea into your apology for a brain?"

"Really, Doctor?" the Fifth Hatter rolled her eyes, giving him a look, "You're are going to resort to insults now?"

"Return to your ship and leave," the voice ordered.

"Certainly not," the Sixth Doctor replied haughtily.

"Then this station will switch to defence alert".

"I will not be threatened by a computer," he scoffed, quickly adding, "And put some lights on!"

Peri looked at the Sixth Doctor curiously, "How do you know it's a computer?" she asked.

"The lack of emotion in the voice is a rather big give away," the Fifth Hatter remarked, giving her an amused look, "Plus, we do have quite a few centuries worth of experience dealing with computers, too".

"Come on," the Sixth Doctor gestured for Peri to follow as he and the Time Lady began heading off down the corridor once more.

Peri quickly hurried after them, casting her eyes worriedly around the corridor, "And…and what did it mean, defence alert?" she questioned.

He paused and exhaled loudly, "The usual," he glanced at her, not seeming the slightest bit concerned himself, "Floor traps, electronic sensors, death rays…" Peri paled, "…jets of nerve gas," he shrugged, "Nothing to be worried about".

"Oh, good," she breathed sarcastically, her eyes wide, "I…I was afraid it might mean something serious".

He nodded, giving her a smile, not noticing the sarcasm as the Fifth Hatter pattered Peri's arm comfortingly, "As long as we keep our wits about us," he let go of the Time Lady's hand, grabbing the bottom of his coat, and lifted it up as he carefully stepped over an electronic eye attached the edge of the wall.

The Time Lady did the same thing with her coat and stepped over the top of the electronic eye, but as Peri followed, she didn't quite step high enough, having shorter legs then the Time Lords, and hit the invisible beam. An alarm sounded as they made their way into another hallway.

"What's that noise?" Peri asked quickly, looking to the Time Lords.

The Fifth Hatter paused, listening carefully, her eyes widening, "This section is being depressurised," she realised, and she hurried over to a metal grate attached to one of the walls, resting her hand against it for a moment, "We've got to get out of here, but there's no power," she sighed heavily.

The Time Lords moved a bit further down the corridor, the Doctor pressing his hand against a control panel beside a large door "It's getting colder!" Peri said, jogging after them.

"It will," the Sixth Doctor agreed, glancing at her, "But we'll die from lack of air before we freeze to death," he shook his head as the controls didn't work, and stepped before the door, trying to push it open.

"How long?"

The Fifth Hatter tried to help him to push the doors apart, but they wouldn't budge, "Not very long, I'm afraid," she informed Peri grimly, scrunching up her face with the effort of trying to get the door open, "Which is why we need to get out of these corridors, and soon".

"Ah!" the Sixth Doctor called suddenly, managing to get a panel on the door off to reveal a manual lever inside to operate the door, "Thought there'd be one," he quickly began to fit it together.

Peri leant against the door, watching him, "Clever," he began pumping the lever, but still the door didn't open, and the air grew thinner as she began to lean heaver against the wall, "Nothing's happening," she gasped.

"Got to…build…hydraulic…pressure…" he muttered, stilling pumping the lever, but even he was begging to feel the strain of the thinning air.

Peri collapsed and the Fifth Hatter tried to catch her, but it only caused her to lose her balance, coming to land on the floor beside her, struggling for breathe. It wasn't quite as bad for her as it was for Peri, but even as a Time Lady she could feel the effect the thinning air was beginning to have on her, making her limbs heaver and sluggish.

Finally, the door slid open and the Sixth Doctor clumsily stumbled over to the women. He quickly pulled Peri by her arms up over his shoulder and grabbed the Hatter's arm with his free hand, despite her attempts to wave him off, and quickly helped her up from the floor as they hurried through the doorway, and off down the corridor through the other side.

…

Slowly, Peri's eyes flickered and after a moment of trying to wake up, the face of the Fifth Hatter came into focus, smiling softly at her as she seemed to be kneeling on the ground beside the chair that Peri was sitting in as the Sixth Doctor stood behind the chair, his hands on either side of her head.

"Feeling better?" he asked her, seeing that she was awake, lowering his hands.

"Thanks," she nodded, but quickly stopped as it made her feel dizzy. She sat up straighter in the chair as she looked around the well decorated, dimly lit room that seemed to be an office, a large wooden desk stood on a platform across the other end of the office, "Where are we?" she questioned.

"Take it slowly," the Time Lady stood, placing a hand on her shoulder, having noticed how quickly she had stopped nodding. She followed her gaze as the human woman continued to eye the room curiously, "And this would be Dastari's office," she told her.

"How do you know?"

The Sixth Doctor slipped his hands inside his trouser pockets as he strolled over to the desk, looking at it almost sadly, "He liked old familiar things around him," he replied, stilling looking at the neatly arranged desk, "He worked out the famous theory of parallel matter at that desk. _And_ in pen and ink".

The Fifth Hatter laughed a little sadly, moving to his side, "He wasn't very fond of computers," she added.

Peri frowned slightly at them, "You speak as though you're sure he's…dead".

He looked over to her for a moment, shaking his head, "They're all dead, Peri," he informed her grimly, moving around the platform, still looking at the desk, "Forty of the finest scientific minds ever assembled in one place. The barbarity of such a deed…" he hit the back of the large, carved wooden chair sitting behind the desk, sighing heavily, "I find scarcely conceivable".

"Were they a threat to the Time Lords?" she asked them.

"Oh, I doubt it," the Fifth Hatter answered, casting her eyes around the room, pausing for a moment to toy with one of the globes sitting along one of the shelves, "This station wasn't a threat to anyone, not really. It was only meant to help further research and add to scientific knowledge…" she trailed off, a sudden thought occurring to her as she paused, "Unless, of course, they began to research…" she trailed off again, looking thoughtful.

Peri waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, she said, "Well, then why did that computer say that…"

"Oh," the Sixth Doctor cut her off, waving his hand around as he walked back around towards her, "Don't know. Not yet," he shrugged slightly, "Programmed to say that, presumably".

The lights all turned on, filling the room with light as they all looked up in surprise.

"What…what's that for?" Peri slowly stood, looking around carefully.

"The system must be switching to visual," the Time Lady commented, smiling slightly as she looked around at the lights, "It must have lost track of us".

"Well, I haven't seen any lenses," she frowned slightly, looking around as she walked over to the platform, stepping up onto it.

"There'll be an electronic eye somewhere," the Sixth Doctor remarked, walking down the other end of the room, "Did you notice the floor?" he gestured down to it.

"What about it?"

"It's cork insulation and carpet," the Fifth Hatter pointed out to her, stepping up onto the platform, looking curiously at the desk.

Peri cast them an amused look, not seeing what they were getting at, "So your friend liked to be comfortable, even in space".

The Sixth Doctor smiled slightly, walking back over towards them, "It's been tracking us by the heat of our feet," he explained to her, "In here, it couldn't detect us".

"You mean it got worried and switched the lights on?" she questioned.

"Something like that," he nodded, and she smiled slightly. He jumped up onto the platform and moved around the desk, "I wonder what it'll try next".

"You don't think it'll just leave us alone?" she took a seat on the edge of the desk as the Sixth Doctor took a seat behind it, reaching for a black folder that had been left lying on top of it.

The Fifth Hatter sighed slightly, stepping around the desk to look over his shoulder, "Oh, I wouldn't get your hopes up, Peri," she warned her lightly, shrugging he began flicking through the folder, "Just…imagine it's a game between us and the computer".

"I love games, Hatter. Games where I'm not expecting to end up dead," neither Time Lord looked at her, both seeming fascinated by whatever was written in the folder, "Are you listening?"

"Yes," the Sixth Doctor said absently, his eyes fixed on the page before him, a small frown settling on his face, "My word, they were doing some fascinating work here," he turned the page, "This is Dastari's journal".

"You've told me all I want to know about pin galaxies".

"Look at this," the Fifth Hatter leaned down closer, pointing down to the page, once again not noticing the way he automatically moved closer towards her, "Two professors, Kartz and Reimer were experimenting with controlling time, and doing so successfully, too," a troubled look crossed her face as she straightened.

"But you can already do that," Peri reminded them, looking a little confused.

"Well, we can, yes," the Sixth Doctor agreed, looking mildly troubled himself as he turned the page, "But I didn't realise the Third Zoners were that close to…to the breakthrough…" he stopped suddenly, something on the page catching his attention.

"What is it?" the Time Lady asked, leaning over his shoulder to see for herself, and her eyes widened, "Oh…" she breathed.

Peri looked at them in concern, seeing their reaction, "Is something wrong?"

"This last entry," he told her, still looking at the page, "'The Time Lords are demanding that Kartz and Reimer suspend their work,'" he began to read aloud, "'Alleging their experiments are imperilling the continuum. No proof was offered to support this charge, so I rejected the demand. Colleagues fear they may forcibly intervene? All agreed that we must stand firm and refuse to be intimidated'".

"So it _was_ the Time Lords," Peri gasped.

"It can't be," the Fifth Hatter shook her head forcefully, her eyes wide with horror, "They wouldn't…" she swallowed thickly, taking a step away from the Doctor, who looked just as horrified as she did, "I mean, it's just not possible that the Time Lords would do this…" she meet the Doctor's eyes, looking desperately hopeful, because the idea that the Time Lords would do such a terrible act was just simply too much for her to be able to handle, "Doctor, please, you don't…you don't think the Time Lords really did this…do you?" she asked him, her voice sounding surprisingly small.

Peri's eyes widened in further to see just what effect the very possibility that the Time Lords really could have been behind what had happened to the space station had on the Time Lady and the Sixth Doctor. She had never seen the Time Lady look so…frightened before, at least, not like this. She almost reminded her of a small child, desperately trying to hold on to an idea, while the Doctor had a similar expression on his face, as if everything they had once believed was slowly crumbling before their very eyes.

The Sixth Doctor quickly stood and wrapped his arms around the Time Lady, hugging her tightly, almost knocking the floppy sun hat off her head in the process, "No, I don't believe it," he assured her, kissing the side of her head in a surprisingly affectionate gesture for this regeneration, "The use of force is alien to Time Lord nature," he finished firmly.

They pulled back from each other and the Fifth Hatter took a deep breath, seeming to be trying to compose herself as she gave him a small, soft smile, reaching up to lightly pat his cheek, "Thank you, sweetheart," she said quietly to him.

"What for?" he blinked slightly, looking surprised, but very pleased all the same.

"For being on the same side as me," she clarified, "I'm not entirely sure what I would have done had you believed the Time Lords to have been truly responsible. I mean, if they were, then that would mean…" she hesitated, sighing heavily, "Then that would mean that my Father, being a member of the High Council, would have been behind this, and while I might not get along with my family, they are still my family".

"That wouldn't have been your fault".

"Perhaps not directly, but the idea of being connected to someone who could allow something like this to happen makes me ill".

"But what if they thought doing this justified the means?" Peri spoke up quietly, catching their attention as she sighed, looking down, "Isn't that always the excuse for something really bad?"

"No, I won't believe it," the Sixth Doctor shook his head stubbornly, waving a hand around as he jumped down from the platform, and began pacing, "There must be some other explanation".

"Well, maybe someone's setting the Time Lords up," she suggested.

"Setting them up?" he repeated, frowning at her, "Setting…setting them up…" he paused, considering it as the Fifth Hatter brightened, nodding. He walked closer to Peri, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You know, sometimes, Peri, you make amazingly shrewd remarks," he nodded slowly, looking over to the Time Lady, who smiled broadly, "Yes…it could be a crude attempt to drive a wedge between Gallifrey and the Third Zone governments".

Peri frowned, "But who'd benefit from that?"

"Not sure yet," the Fifth Hatter shrugged, sighing slightly, but as she spoke again her voice grew determined, "But we are most certainly going to find out".

Peri stood from the desk, giving them both a point look, "That's if we get out alive," she remarked.

"Hmm?" the Sixth Doctor glanced at her, having been busy thinking, "Oh, yes," his eyes drifted up towards the ceiling, "I was forgetting that. We still have a homicidal computer to deal with".

"Lovely, my favourite," the Time Lady said in a false, cheerful tone, rolling her eyes.

"It's getting awfully hot and stuffy in here now," Peri stepped down from the platform and across to one of the armchairs.

"Yes," he agreed warily, "Having failed to freeze us to death, it's now trying to bake us," he looked across to Peri as the Time Lady felt quite grateful that she had not worn her tights that day, "It appears to be a machine with a distinctly limited repertoire".

Peri laughed slightly, "Who needs anything fancy?" he moved back around to the other side of the desk, taking a seat behind it, and pulling out one of the draws. She sighed, seeing what he was doing, "Oh, we've got to get out of here".

He glanced up from riffling through the draw, "We have to do better than that," he informed her, "We've got to find our way to the control centre and turn the wretched thing off".

"Well, how're we going to do that without being zapped on the way?"

"Zapped?" he repeated, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Word choices aside," the Fifth Hatter cut in, casting the Sixth Doctor a look as she took a seat on the edge of the table. The Doctor paused in his searching, catching sight of her leg as the edge of her skirt rose just slightly, before he mentally scolded himself, and forced himself to focus on the contents of the draws, "We're going to need to find a way down into the infrastructure of the station and work our way across," she continued thoughtfully.

"We'll be cramped down there, but safer than going on the walkways," the Sixth Doctor added, still riffling through the draw, before sighing, "Not so much as a paper clip!" he exclaimed, shoving the draw closed in frustration, "You'd think someone like Dastari would keep a few useful odds and ends around".

Peri scrunched up her face, "Oh, it's absolutely stifling now," she complained.

"Yes," he leant back in the chair, "Yes, it is a bit uncomfortable".

"I wonder…" the Fifth Hatter jumped off the desk and hurried across to the other side of the room, spotting a small panel attached to the far wall. She carefully took the top of the panel off to reveal machinery within, "Yes, as I thought," she smiled slightly, glancing at the Doctor as he joined her, "That's why you were looking in the draw, wasn't it? Trying to find a bit of wire to try and trip this?"

"Yes, exactly," he nodded, giving her a small smile, before he began to try looking through his pockets as the Time Lady did the same, almost certain there would be a Bobby pin she might be able to use.

Peri stood and stepped over to them, watching them curiously, "Well, what are you trying to do?" she asked them.

"Save us from death by dehydrating," the Sixth Doctor replied, pulling a ball of string from his pocket, trying to juggle it as he reached to search his other pocket, "That computer's been forced to turn the power on, but it hasn't energized the door locks," he pulled a yo-yo, a small disk, some more string from his pocket, and even a banana, "If only I could…"

"Doctor," the Fifth Hatter grabbed his arm, and pointed back across the room to the desk, having caught sight of a metal sculpt that a fringy bit of detailing that might just be able to be loosened.

He followed her gaze and broke into a broad smile, "Ah ha!" he cheered, handing the banana to Peri as he passed her, hurrying back across the room to the sculptor, shoving the rest back inside his pockets. He leaned closer to it and grabbed one of the bits of wire, carefully tugging it free, and held it up proudly for the girls to see.

"Well done, sweetheart," the Time Lady smiled at him, taking a step away from the panel as he hurried back across to the panel, and carefully moved off to the side as he placed the piece of wire into the machinery, causing it to spark as the doors slide open.

"Volia!" he grinned, holding up his hands triumphantly as he looked back to Peri and the Fifth Hatter, "You know, I don't know much about art, but I know what I like".

"Only when _I_ point it out to you, though," the Fifth Hatter reminded him, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Says the woman who struggles to draw a tree," the Sixth Doctor resorted playfully.

"Oh, just…hush, you," she muttered embarrassedly, blushing faintly as he laughed.

 _ **I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Guest:**_ _ **Sadly, I haven't listened to any audio adventures yet, hopefully in the future I will, but at this point I can't say if I'll be able to write anything for an audio adventures. The same goes for comic books. Thanks for the review and suggestion :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **Space Station**_

The Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter knelt before a large wall panel in the middle of the stations kitchen, behind the rakes of hanging meat, working on unscrewing the panel as Peri stood back, watching them work.

"Ah!" the Doctor smiled happily as the panel came apart from the wall, and peeked his head through the darkened space within that seemed to slide deep into the ship, "This looks big enough to get down".

"Well, can't we just take off?" Peri sighed, walking closer towards the TARDIS with a longing look as she ate the banana the Doctor had found in his pocket.

"We still have to find out exactly what happened here," the Fifth Hatter explained to her patently, straightening, and moving around the edge of the rakes to look over to her.

"Doctor, Hatter, look!" she suddenly called urgently, and they looked back over to her to see her crouching beside the body of an Androgum, half hidden beneath a table, and with a large blood stain on the front of his shirt from where he had been stabbed.

The Time Lady stepped around the rakes and across to her, kneeling on the ground beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around the girl, who looked quite distressed, "Come away, Peri…" she began quietly, trying to guide her away.

The Sixth Doctor, on the other hand, took a slightly harsher approach, "We haven't got time to bother about dead Androgums, Peri," he told her sternly.

"Doctor," the Fifth Hatter shot him a sharp look.

Peri quickly stood and let the Time Lady guide her away from the body, looking back to it, "Well, how…how do you know it's an Androgum?" she questioned, wringing her hands.

"I know an Androgum when I see one," he waved her question off, gesturing to her, "Come on!" she hurried over to him as the Time Lady followed at a less hurried pace, not very pleased with the lack of sympathy he was showing the girl who was obviously upset, but she also knew it was just one part of this regeneration. They moved closer to the gap in the wall as he lightly pushed Peri towards it, "Right, shouldn't be too far down," he remarked to her, nodding through the gap, "Just put your hands over your head, and slide," he mimicked putting his hands above his head as he spoke.

"What happens if I get stuck?" she looked at him, looking a little nervous.

"I shouldn't advice that," he said to her, "We'll be right behind you".

"Okay, okay," she nodded, and the Time Lords helped her up through to sit on the edge of the gap, before sliding down as she squealed slightly, disappearing out of sight.

"My turn," the Fifth Hatter stepped forward and began to climb up, but the Sixth Doctor grabbed her arm, helping her to climb up properly. She paused as she reached the edge of opening, glancing at him with a small smile, "Good thing I wore shorts with this skirt".

He coughed, blushing bright red, but she didn't notice as she let go of the edge of the opening and allowed herself to slide down after Peri, "Yes, right…" he mumbled to himself before climbing up to the opening and sliding down after the woman.

The slide ended quickly and the Time Lady found herself falling onto her knees upon landing on hard, metal grating, wincing. She jumped to her feet and stepped back as the Sixth Doctor followed after her, his landing just as ungraceful as hers as he landed with a groan on his side. Peri stepped forward and helped the Fifth Hatter back onto her feet, giving her a chance to cast her eyes around.

They had landed on a small, metal platform, only dimly lit with bits of pipes and girders all around them, some brightly coloured, but as the Time Lady narrowed her eyes to try and look through the badly lit space, she noticed that there was a few walkways dotted throughout the space.

The Sixth Doctor cringed as he slowly sat back up, casting the slide they had just come down a look, "That was a bit further down than I expected," he remarked, groaning as his back ached, not that he would tell the Hatter that. She would just tease him for not being more careful reeling that tiny fish in.

"Well, it's all right coming down," Peri frowned slightly, looking worriedly around, "How are we ever going to get back up again?"

The Fifth Hatter reached out and pattered her arm comfortingly, "Oh, I'm sure we'll find a way," she tried to assure her, casting her eyes back around the darkened space, "There will be service hatches throughout this entire place, we need only find one to get out".

"She's right," the Sixth Doctor nodded, moving to stand, when he hit his head against a pipe, "Ow!" he yelped, scrunching up his face painfully as he placed his hands over his head.

Peri bit her lip, eyeing him, "You…you did say it would be cramped," she reminded him quietly.

He rubbed his head and slowly climbed onto his feet with the Time Lady's help, "Thanks for reminding me," he shot Peri a quick look.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter cut in, stepping in between them, giving him a pointed look, "Isn't that right?"

"Yes, of course," he sighed, knowing that trying to argue wouldn't get him very far, not when she was still a little annoyed at him for his lack of feeling from before. He held his head higher, "This way, I think," he said to them, moving to led them off through the structure, carefully walking on top of girds.

"How can you tell?" Peri asked as she followed after the Time Lady.

"He doesn't have a clue," the Time Lady muttered softly so that only Peri would hear, struggling to hold back a laugh, "Time Lord or not, he's still a man, and therefore he's incapable of asking for directions".

The Sixth Doctor cast them a smug look over his shoulder, not having heard a word she had said, "Well, apart from possessing an unerring sense of direction…" the brunette gave Peri a pointed look, "All service ducts lead this way…"

"Not quite," she shook her head as he turned a corner, off into a different section, and just to humour him, she followed after him.

"They must lead up to the control centre," he finished, before coming to a stop as they found themselves in a dead end, "Ah," he sighed slightly, glancing back over his shoulder to the girls, quite grateful for the poor lighting or else they would have seen his blush.

"You were saying, sweetheart?" the Fifth Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, her tone teasing.

He coughed and quickly looked away from them, "Just got a little…turned around," he murmured more to himself then to the girls, trying ignore the highly amused looks on their faces.

He turned and began leading them down another section, carefully balancing on top of the girders as they walked, holding onto pipes as they passed them.

"Oh!" Peri exclaimed, making the Time Lords look back to her in concern to see that she had almost fallen, her eyes wide as she held on tightly to a pipe, trying to steady herself.

"You all right?" the Sixth Doctor questioned her as the Fifth Hatter helped her regain her footing on the girder.

She tried to laugh it off, "Sure," she swallowed, still feeling her heart racing from the near miss, "Can't remember when I last had so much fun".

The Time Lady gave her a understanding smile and held out her hand to her, wiggling her fingers, "Here, hold onto my hand," she told her, "At least if one of us falls, the other might have a chance to catch them," Peri took the offered hand as the brunet shrugged, "And besides, Time Lords have better balance then humans".

"Thanks," Peri gave her a grateful look. They began walking again when the Fifth Hatter stopped suddenly, almost making Peri run into her, "What's wrong?"

The Sixth Doctor paused up ahead of them to look back, "Everything alright, Hatter?" he asked her, giving her a mildly concerned look.

"Yes, I just thought…" the Fifth Hatter frowned, narrowing her eyes as she looked passed the Doctor, trying to see through the dark, "I just thought I saw something move ahead of us," she informed them, "But it's gone now".

He eyed her for a moment longer as Peri looked alarmed, "Probably just the light playing tricks," he said after a moment, waving it off, "Nothing to worry about".

They set off walking once more, but the Time Lady couldn't help but get the feeling that someone was watching them, just out of sight, and if that was the case, then perhaps someone had managed to survive. She dearly hoped that was the case.

They continued to make their way deeper through the structure, until they reached a ladder leading up to a platform on the level above them. The Sixth Doctor went first, followed by the Fifth Hatter, and then Peri, who was panting slightly from all the walking.

The Sixth Doctor held out his hand towards the girl as she climbed the ladder, "Here, take my hand," Peri took his hand and he helped her to step across from the ladder, and onto a girder, "Good girl".

"Oh, it would help if we could see," Peri grumbled slightly, trying to catch her breath as the Doctor began walking along the girders, carefully balancing.

"I'm sure we're getting closer now," the Fifth Hatter commented, trying to sound more cheerful then she actually felt as she followed after the Sixth Doctor. She still couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched and it was making her feel nerves.

"Just far enough to scrape the skin off another leg," she huffed, casting her eyes around at all the pipes around them, "What is all this stuff, anyway?"

"Oh, fluidic streams," the Sixth Doctor replied from just ahead of them, glancing back over his shoulder to the Time Lady, "Interesting application of the idea," he remarked and the Hatter nodded in agreement, "Think I detect Dastari's hand in the design".

"Yes, it does have his flare to it," the Fifth Hatter agreed, looking around with a small smile, "It's almost impressive".

"Almost?" Peri questioned, sounding slightly amused.

She shrugged, "Well, I am a Time Lady. My standards are rather high, especially when it comes to science and technology".

"Ah, there," the Sixth Doctor called, moving across to a long, flexible pipe that ran between the level below and above them. He grabbed it and began unscrewing the join in the pipe as the girls caught up to him, the Time Lady leaning closer towards him to watch, "There, you see?" he detached one of the sections of the pipe and held it out for Peri to see, looking quite pleased.

Peri frowned at him, looking a little uneasy, "Should you have done that?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," the Fifth Hatter waved off her concern, looking thoughtfully at the pipe where a clear liquid started oozing from out of the joint, "It's perfectly safe and they're self-sealing".

"Now that fluid…" the Sixth Doctor began, nodding to the pipe in his hand.

A funny growling, grunting sound echoed from somewhere around them from out of the darkness, making Peri and the Fifth Hatter's heads snap up, but neither of them could see a thing in the poor lighting.

"Doctor," Peri breathed, her eyes wide, "Hatter…"

"Yes," the Time Lady said quietly, swallowing as she stepped forward so that she was standing in front of Peri, just in case anything should attempt to attack them, "I heard it, too".

"…carries a signal," the Sixth Doctor continued, completely oblivious to the girls and the funny growling sound, "In the same way that the signal in an electronic circuit is carried by the flow of electrons," he started re-screwing the pipe back together as the growling sounded again, "The interesting thing about a fluidic device…"

"Doctor!" Peri shouted urgently, starting to panic.

"What?" he frowned, looking around to her, annoyed by the interruption of his lecture.

"I thought I heard something," she tried to tell him, glancing at the Fifth Hatter, knowing that he was more likely to pay attention if she mentioned the Time Lady, "The Hatter heard it, too".

"She's right, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter nodded as he turned to her, still not looking pleased by the interruption, "There was a funny…growling sound".

"We were trying to listen, but you kept on talking," she added quickly, giving him a look.

The Sixth Doctor huffed slightly, "I was imparting a little information," he defended himself, fixing Peri with a stern look as the girl sighed, "When you ask a question, you should listen to the answer, my girl, otherwise, you will gain absolutely no benefit from being in my company…"

The Time Lady cleared her throat, shooting him a pointed look, "Oh, and I suppose that I'm only here due to my wonderful taste in hats".

"Fine," he sighed, inclining his head towards the Hatter, " _Our_ company," he corrected himself before turning back to Peri, waving a finger at her, "'It is the province of knowledge to speak, and the privilege of wisdom to listen,'" he quoted, reaching inside his pocket and withdrawing a bright yellow handkerchief, using it to wipe his hands clean from fiddling with the pipe.

Peri rolled her eyes, "Privilege," she repeated, her tone sounding tense.

"Yeah," he nodded, not noticing her tone as the Time Lady closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head tiredly. Oh, she really was starting to miss Lily.

"I can't tell you how _privileged_ I feel," she said sarcastically, "Having been half-frozen, and asphyxiated, and cooked, and then forced to clamber through miles of pipe…"

"Good," he smiled slightly, completely missing her tone as he tucked his handkerchief back inside his pocket, "Because we have about another mile to go".

The Fifth Hatter ran a hand down her face, sighing heavily, "One of these days, Doctor, you're are going to end up getting slapped by one of your companions," she muttered, feeling amazed that Peri hadn't slapped him by now due to something he had said or done.

He glanced back to her, looking confused, "What was that, Hatter?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart," she quickly lied, giving him a bright, cheerful smile, "I was just remaking upon your wonderful collection of quotes you seem to have spinning around that curly head of yours".

"Well…" he held his head higher, looking quite smug and pleased as a faint blush covered his cheeks, "I do my best, my dear".

"And we are all very proud, but I do believe that we ought to be continuing on our way, yes?"

"Quite right," he agreed, still looking very pleased as he turned and began to lead them down another section, "Come on".

Suddenly, another growling sound sounded around them.

"Ah!" Peri cried, hearing the sound, trying to look around to find the source, "Listen!"

The Sixth Doctor frowned and stepped back over to her, "What is it?"

"I heard it again!" she told them, sounding fearful, looking to the Time Lady as she stepped closer to her, looking concerned, "There's…there's something down here with us".

"It's not possible," he shook his head at her, "You're imagining it".

"I tell you, I'm certain I heard something!"

"Hydraulics," he argued, shrugging.

"What?" she blinked, turning back to him.

"Well, I suppose that could be an plausible explanation," the Fifth Hatter said slowly, still not seeming completely convinced, "Some of this pumping system must be quite old, there's bound to be a bit of noise, and this place is a little unnerving. It's to be expected that we would be on edge after what we saw upstairs…"

Another growling, snarling sound echoed from out of the dark, making the three of them all freeze, even the Doctor heard it that time, and grabbed the Hatter's hand, holding it tightly.

Peri swallowed fearfully, glancing back to the Time Lords, "Well, that's the fiercest pump I ever heard," she remarked shakily.

"There's something down here with us," the Sixth Doctor commented, sounding as if he was the one who had worked it out in the first place.

"Really?" the human woman rolled her eyes at him.

The Fifth Hatter shook her head at him, "No need to sound so surprised, Doctor, we've only been saying that practically since we first climbed down here".

He ignored their remarks and began moving down another section, forcing the girls to follow after him, until they came across a control box attached to one of the girders, "Ah," he smiled slightly, looking up towards the ceiling, "We must be under the central control area now".

The Time Lady carefully stepped across to the control box and opened it to reveal several coloured coded switches inside, "And this is exactly what we've been searching for," she broke into a smile, exchanging a pleased look with the Doctor beside her.

Peri watched them with a wary sigh, "Well, I just hope you two know what you're doing".

The Sixth Doctor shot her an exasperated look, "If we didn't, we wouldn't be doing it," he resorted, shaking his head at her, "Do have a little faith," he turned back to the controls.

"It just looks very complicated…"

"Not at all," he waved her off as he and the Time Lady began fiddling with the controls, "These type 49 systems are colour-coded," he explained to her, "Defence mechanisms in red…" he began pointing the detachable lines out, "Power supplies in yellow, and so forth. All we have to do is disarm that computer," he shoot the ceiling above them a look, "Than, hopefully, we'll get some civil answers out of thing".

Peri looked around, catching sight of a ladder a short distance away, "There's a ladder over here," she informed them.

"Yes, we've already spotted that," the Fifth Hatter told her, not looking away from the controls, "It leads up to the central control area…" she trailed off, a frown crossing her face as she glanced at the Sixth Doctor, "You know, I can't remember what blue is supposed to stand for".

"Hmm, I can't either," the Sixth Doctor agreed, frowning at the blue line with a thoughtful look, before shaking his head, shrugging, "Oh, well…"

Peri stepped back over to them, "Can I help?" she asked.

"No, no, no," he focused his attention back on the controls as the Time Lady tried to remember what the blue line was supposed to do, "This is a job for the experts. They often booby-trap these computers to prevent tampering".

"Oh, yes, they can be quite nasty, too," the Time Lady remarked darkly, glancing over her shoulder to Peri, "If I recall correctly, Berbury's noose was a favourite".

"What's that?" Peri questioned curiously, moving towards the ladder.

"Bye, bye head".

"Oh…" she grimaced. She gave herself a shake and began to climb down the ladder, deciding to leave the Time Lords to what they did best.

"Do you know…" the Sixth Doctor frowned deeply, turning to the Fifth Hatter, "I wish I could remember what that blue line serves".

"It's going to drive me insane, I just know it," the Fifth Hatter groaned, giving the blue line a frustrated look.

A few minutes passed and the Time Lords were no closer to remembering what the blue line was supposed to do, when Peri's voice called from the level below them, "Doctor, Hatter!" she shouted, making them look up, "Over here!"

"What is it?" the Sixth Doctor called back, returning his attention back to the controls, almost sounding bored.

"I…I don't know…well, come and see!"

"In a minute," he replied absently, fiddling with the control.

"I'll go and see what she's found," the Fifth Hatter remarked, moving over to the ladder, beginning to climb down it, "Who knows, a little bit of time away from trying to figure out what the blue line does might help".

He finally looked up and over to her, frowning, "Just be careful, Hatter," he told her, his eyes moving to roam around the darkened space, "We don't know what might be around here".

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes slightly, more amused then annoyed as she climbed down to the next level. Once she reached the bottom, she tried to look around for Peri, and started walking across the girders.

….….. _ **The level above**_ …..…..

Once the Fifth Hatter had disappeared out of sight down the ladder, the Sixth Doctor returned his attention back to the controls, but he couldn't help but feel just a little worried about letting the Time Lady go off on her own.

He gave himself a sharp shake, forcing himself to focus, "There," he smiled slightly, slotting one of the lines back into place, "That should just about have done it".

Suddenly, Peri screamed and a growling sounded echoed up towards him, making him jump.

"Get away from her!" the Hatter's voice cried out.

"Hatter, Peri!" he shouted, but in the moment that he turned his head, gas began billowing out from a grate above the control box, right into his face. He blinked, his eyes growing suddenly very heavy as everything turned to blackness and vaguely, he felt himself falling forward before he passed out completely.

…. _ **The level below**_ ….

As the Fifth Hatter moved along the girders, she spotted Peri crouching on the ground of a platform that seemed to be covered in some sort of old blanket, almost appearing to be a nest. She smiled and opened her mouth to call out to her, when she saw something else.

A figure was approaching Peri from behind, covered in a blanket. The Time Lady didn't even have time to try warning Peri when the figure suddenly jumped on Peri, knocking her onto the platform, making her scream.

"Get away from her!" the Fifth Hatter shouted desperately, trying to hurry across the girders to Peri, but in her hast, her footing slipped and she found herself only just managing to catch herself from falling by grabbing a hold of a pipe, her hearts racing madly in her chest.

"Hatter, Peri!" the Sixth Doctor's voice called from above them, sounding very worried and afraid.

Peri struggled on the platform with the person while all the Fifth Hatter could do was try to hold onto the pipe, dangling in mid-air…

 _ **I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **Space station infrastructure**_

Peri struggled with her attacker, trying to throw him off her, but whatever the creature was, it was far stronger then she was. She cried out in panic and fear, feeling tears welling up in her eyes as she tried with all her strength to push him off her, when something clanged against one of the metal pipes and the creatures grunted and stilled, half collapsing on top of her.

Gasping for breath, she managed to roll him away from her, throwing it a quick look to make sure that it really was unconscious. Not that she could really be sure, since she couldn't see its face, but when it made no further move to attack her, she scrambled to her feet and carefully began to make her way back the way she had come, balancing on top of the girders.

"Thanks for your help, Doctor, Hatter," she muttered angrily as she threw one last look towards the covered creature. She might have expected the Sixth Doctor to take his time coming to her aid, but the Fifth Hatter? That seemed strange. That's when she caught sight of a hand clutching onto one of the girders and the top of the Time Lady's sunhat, "Hatter!" she cried, alarmed, and hurried forward.

She reached for the Fifth Hatter and struggled to help pull her back up, both women scrunching up their faces from the effort, until the Time Lady was fully up, breathing heaver then normal as she fell against one of the pipes, her hat sitting on an odd angle.

"Thank you, Peri," the Fifth Hatter said after a moment as the human woman sat back, trying to catch her breath. She gave her a small, apologetic smile, "I think I ought to take back what I said about Time Lords having better balance then humans".

Peri waved her off, "It's fine".

She eyed her for a moment, her smile replaced with a concerned look, "I heard you scream, are you alright?"

"I think so," she frowned, looking back over towards the creature, "I think it knocked itself out on one of the pipes".

"Hmm…" the Time Lady hummed thoughtfully, casting a look over towards the creature, "It appears to be a humanoid," she remarked, "Possibly a survivor from the attack upstairs. This place would be a good hiding place".

Peri looked wary, "Couldn't it be one of the people behind the attack?"

"Again, possibly, though I doubt it," she shook her head, turning back to Peri, "Why else would it be hiding down here? Still, it would be wise to be wary until we know more," she added with a small frown before carefully standing, rubbing her hands together and straightening her hat, "Come on".

She began to head back towards the ladder, but Peri grabbed her arm, stopping her, "Shouldn't we check it first?" she asked worriedly, nodding back over to the creature.

The Fifth Hatter glanced back toward the creature, shrugging, "Right now, my main concern is why the Doctor hasn't come running to our rescue," she told her, her tone very serious and worried, "It's very unlike him, even in this regeneration," she rolled her eyes fondly, "He does so love to play the dashing hero in moments like this".

"The dashing hero?" she repeated, raising a knowing eyebrow at the Time Lady.

She sighed and gave her a quick look, "Come along, Peri," she said firmly, really not wanting to get into that sort of conversation right now.

The Time Lady led the way back towards the ladder, but they were only a short distance away when through the dark, they caught sight of the Sixth Doctor dangling from some cables above the girders on their level, appearing to be unconscious with his head lolling onto his shoulder. They hurried forward, moving to stand on each side of his legs.

"We're going to need to pull him down and try to guide him down onto that platform," the Fifth Hatter quickly instructed Peri, gesturing over to where a platform was just behind the ladder.

"Is he…" Peri began fearfully, her eyes wide.

"I need to check first," she cut her off, keeping her mind fixed on the task at hand, refusing to think of any other possibility. She didn't think that he was…dead, she would have felt it, she was sure of that, but even still, something had happened to him and now she needed to try and work out what.

Carefully, they worked together to tug the Sixth Doctor down, trying to gently guide him onto the platform as he came loose from the cables, but he was too heavy for even the two of them to do much more then try and insure that he didn't end up hitting his head against the metal platform as he landed heavily on his front. The Fifth Hatter quickly fell to her knees beside him and rolled him onto his back, pulling his head into her lap.

"Doctor?" Peri called to him, crouching on the other side of him, "Wake up! Come on!" she tried, glancing at the Time Lady, "What's wrong with him?"

The Fifth Hatter checked his pulse and sighed in relief to find both his hearts working, "He's going to be okay," she assured the girl, seeing how worried she was. She lifted up one of his eyelids and checked his pupils, once again pleased to find them working normally. She lightly began to tap his cheeks, "Come on, sweetheart," she said loudly to him as his eyes started flickering, "Wake up, Doctor, come on".

He began to toss his head in her lap, "What is it?" he mumbled, still half unconscious.

"Wakie-wakie, Doctor," she smiled down at him slightly, lightly running a hand through his hair, before looking up to Peri, "Here, help me to sit him up," she carefully eased the Doctor up as Peri grabbed his arms, pulling him up into a sitting position.

He blinked slowly as he blearily looked at them, seeming confused, "Oh, Hatter…" he gave himself a sharp shake, his eyes widening in alarm as it all came back to him, "What happened?" he questioned almost at once, looking back and forth between the two women as he struggled to stand, rubbing his face, "Peri, why'd you scream?"

Peri sighed, "That thing you thought was an animal attacked me," she informed him, making him frown at her, "And it's human, we think".

"If you hadn't screamed I wouldn't have triggered that stun jet," he scolded her slightly, and she sighed again, "I was expecting there'd be one," his frown grew as he glanced at the Time Lady, shaking his head, "It's can't be human. They haven't reached this part of the galaxy".

"Don't scold the girl for being attacked, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter gave him a stern look, "It's not her fault, and it appears to be a humanoid".

"Come and see," Peri said to him, nodding back down towards where they had left the creature.

The Sixth Doctor sniffed the air, grimacing, "Vorum gas," he remarked, carefully beginning to lead them back towards the creature, "An ordinary person would have been unconscious for hours".

"So would you if we hadn't dragged you clear of it," Peri pointed out to him as she followed behind the Time Lords.

"Ah, but we're not quite ordinary, are we?" the Time Lady commented, smiling slightly as she glanced back to her, "We're Time Lords, therefore we can close our respiratory passages should we detect anything dangerous in the air, " she explained to her, shrugging, "Think of it as being an automatic response and quite a useful one at that".

They made it back to the platform to find the creature still exactly where they had left it, covered by its blanket as the Time Lords stepped onto the platform, looking down at it curiously as the Sixth Doctor slipped his hands inside his trouser pockets.

Peri frowned at them, looking confused, "Well, then, how did you breath?" she asked, looking at the Doctor.

He laughed slightly, "With difficulty," he replied, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "I'll explain one day, if the Hatter doesn't".

"I really should try and track down one of the Gallifreyan biology books," the Fifth Hatter said thoughtfully, "Obviously, they would need to be translated first, but they should be quite insightful as to just how a Time Lord works. Regeneration, body temperature, and ooh…" she broke into a broad smile, reaching up to tap the side of her head, "The brain, personally my favourite organ".

"Yes," the Sixth Doctor nodded along with her, before crouching beside the figure, eyeing it carefully, "It certainly does appear to be humanoid," he agreed, glancing at the Time Lady as she knelt beside him and back down to the figure, "So it finally mustered the courage to attack".

Peri stepped closer and crouched on the other side of the figure, "I think it was my fault," she told them, looking slightly guilty now that she had calmed down, "It was just protecting its nest," she gestured around at a few other blankest that had been scattered around the platform.

"Understandable," he commented, reaching forward and pulling the figure over, making the blanket fall off, revealing the figure to be a human man in his mid-twenties, dressed in dirty overalls with patches of grease covering his face. The Time Lords gasped, their eyes widening as they stared down at the man, unable to believe their eyes, "Jamie?" he exclaimed, shocked.

"What?" Peri asked, edging closer to Jamie, surprised to find that they actually seemed to _know_ him.

"This is…" the Fifth Hatter trailed off, looking completely amazed as she stared down at the Scottish man. It had been centuries since the last time she had seen him and yet, she would have recognised him from anywhere, "It's Jamie," she breathed, shaking her head as she looked at the Doctor.

"How did he get here?" the Sixth Doctor wondered aloud, looking even more amazed then the Time Lady to come across his old companion. He frowned, "He should be with me".

"Well, he's not now, Doctor," Peri reminded him, wondering if he was having another memory lapse, "Not anymore".

"No, that's right," he nodded, his frown deepening even more as he looked at the Time Lady, "But if he's here, where am I?" worry crossed his face as his eyes widened slightly as his gaze grew more intent as he looked at the Hatter, "And were you with us?"

The Fifth Hatter shrugged, taking his hand, and giving it a comforting squeeze, "I don't know," she sighed, looking back down to Jamie. She wasn't overly concerned about her past regeneration, at least not at the moment. She was far more concerned about what had happened to the Doctor's past regeneration.

He followed her gaze, "I must have been here, Peri," he said to her, glancing back up to the human woman as Jamie began groaning softly.

"You mean at some past time?" Peri asked, wanting to make sure that they were all on the same page.

Jamie started stirring and he awake with a start, looking panicked to find three complete strangers kneeling beside him, his eyes wide with fear.

"It's okay, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter quickly tried to assure him, keeping her voice calm and gentle, reaching out to touch his shoulder, "Shh, just calm down…"

"Keep away from me!" Jamie shouted, shoving her hand away, growing even more distressed.

"It's all right," the Sixth Doctor said calmly, but firmly, grabbing Jamie's arm and pinning it down onto his chest to stop him from lashing out again as he reached inside his coat pocket.

"Keep away!"

He withdrew a leather pack and handed it to Peri, "Open that," he instructed her, his hands full with trying to keep Jamie from lashing out, while the Time Lady made soothing noises, running a hand through Jamie's dirty hair. She hated seeing Jamie so distressed, he might not have been one of her companions, but she had grown to be quite fond of him during their time together.

Peri took it and began opening the pack, revealing the inside to be silver, "We're your friends, we won't hurt you," she tried to calm Jamie.

"Keep away!"

"Shh, it's okay, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter said soothingly, trying to give him a soft smile as he continued to try and struggle against her and the Doctor.

"Keep away! Keep away!"

"Jamie!" the Sixth Doctor called firmly, noticing that Jamie's distress was growing even worse, "It's all right!" Peri held the pack towards him and he reached over Jamie to grab a long, silver piece of medical equipment, similar to a needle, only with a squared end that had sharp points. Jamie tried to resist against the Time Lady's hand as she gently pushed his head to the side, revealing his neck, and the Doctor stuck the probe into his neck, making Jamie still as he grabbed a second one, sticking it into his neck once more, knocking him out fully, "Don't worry," he leaned back, watching as Jamie calmed, "It'll help him to relax".

"Relax?" Peri repeated, staring at him, alarmed, "You've killed him!"

"I can't believe _I'm_ going to say this, but don't be over dramatic, Peri," the Time Lady shook her head at her, looking amused as she exchanged a look with the Sixth Doctor, "We were both very fond of Jamie in the old days".

She frowned slightly, still looking down at Jamie, "He's not moving".

"No," the Sixth Doctor nodded, "His nervous system's temporarily paralysed," he shrugged, "He'll be fine shortly".

"Doctor…" Jamie suddenly murmured, his voice slurred, "…Hatter…"

The Time Lady blinked, looking slightly surprised as the Doctor leaned closer to him, "Yes, Jamie?" he asked.

"He's not talking to you two," Peri realised, looking across to them.

"Yes, I think you might be right," the Fifth Hatter agreed, eyeing Jamie thoughtfully.

"They…killed the Doctor and Hatter," Jamie mumbled.

"I'm afraid he's deranged," the Sixth Doctor sighed grimly, standing as looked back down at Jamie sadly, "It's often the effect of extreme fear".

The Time Lady frowned, not looking completely convinced by the Doctor's theory, "Perhaps…" she said slowly, before shaking her head, looking up to him, "But it does prove that my past self was with you when all of this happened," she looked back to Jamie's dirty face, sighing heavily, "Oh, I wonder how long he's been here, alone. He must be starving, you saw the state of that kitchen, and he could certainly do with a bath".

"Nothing ever changes," he remarked, almost fondly.

She lightly battered his leg, casting him a scolding look, "Don't be mean, Doctor".

"Killed the Doctor and Hatter…" Jamie slurred again as the Sixth Doctor stepped off the platform, looking around as he carefully balance on the girders.

"Jamie?" Peri began, moving closer to him.

"They killed the Doctor and Hatter…"

"Can you hear me?" she tried, placing a hand on his arm, trying to give him a gentle smile, "My name's Peri. I'm your friend," Jamie's eyes flickered open, looking up into her face blearily, as if he was only half seeing her, "Do you understand?"

"Friend?" Jamie repeated slowly.

" _Friend_ ," she nodded quickly, encouraged by his apparent comprehension of the word.

He tried to move closer to her, trying to reach for her hand, "They killed the Doctor and Hatter," he insisted, obviously desperately trying to make them understand.

"Oh, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter said sadly, grasping his hand.

The Sixth Doctor stepped back over to them, frowning down at Jamie, "He seems very sure of that," he commented, his eyes flickering worriedly over to the Time Lady, almost as if to check that she was still sitting there and hadn't been erased.

"Doctor, Hatter…" Jamie mumbled sleepily.

Peri looked at the Time Lords, "Is it possible?" she questioned, concerned.

"Of course not!" the Sixth Doctor waved her off, almost rolling his eyes at the question, "We exist, therefore we are, and was".

She sighed, shaking her head tiredly as she turned back to Jamie, "Don't go through all that irrefutable logic again".

"Hmm?" he hummed, before a thought occurred to him and his head snapped around to look at the Time Lady, who was following the same train of thought, "Oh, yes, I remember," he said, recalling what had happened earlier that day to both him and the Hatter, "That mind-slip in the TARDIS".

"That would make much more sense now," the Fifth Hatter remarked slowly, remembering the incident herself.

Peri looked back up them, "You did say you were both being put to death," she reminded them worriedly.

"So we did," the Sixth Doctor agreed, nodding as he cast his eyes around them, "I wonder if it could have been here?"

"Don't ask me," Peri said quickly, shaking her head, "I don't understand any of this".

"Nor do we," the Time Lady admitted as the Doctor stepped over Jamie and knelt beside her, "At least, not yet," her eyes landed on Jamie and the corner of her mouth twitched, "Though, I do believe I have a good idea just who might be able to help us," she carefully leaned over Jamie and turned his face to look at her, giving him a kind smile as he tried to pull away, "Shh, everything is okay, Jamie, just look into my eyes," she told him softly, looking into his eyes intently, and Jamie stilled once more, a blank look crossing his face, "That's it, now focus on the sound of my voice. Doesn't it make you feel sleepy? And your eyes, they feel heavy, so heavy you just want to go to sleep," Jamie's eyes slowly flickered closed and her voice grew softer, until it was just above a whisper, "Sleep, Jamie, just sleep. Sleep, and dream of why you came here," his eyes closed fully and his body relaxed. She let go of him, letting his head fall back as her tone returned to normal volume, growing commanding, "Jamie, tell me why you came here with the Doctor and the Hatter?"

"To see Dastari," Jamie answered, his voice flat and his eyes stilled closed.

"And did you see him?" the Sixth Doctor asked him.

"Aye. They had an argument".

"The Doctor and the Hatter had an argument with Dastari?" the Fifth Hatter questioned, frowning as she exchanged a look with the Sixth Doctor, "What was it about?"

"The Time Lords".

They exchanged another wary look, "What happened then, Jamie?" the Sixth Doctor turned back to him, "Can you remember?"

"There was a battle. The knights came and killed everyone".

"The knights?" he repeated, looking confused as the Time Lady looked blank, too, trying to figure out just what that was supposed to mean, "What were they like, Jamie? Can you tell us?"

"They had a sort of armour. Heavy with no necks," the Time Lords looked at each other, realisation crossing their faces as they worked out just what race he was talking about, "And…their hands were just two great fingers. They killed everyone," suddenly, he sat up, his eyes growing wide with panic, "They killed the Doctor and Hatter!" he cried frantically, "I saw them!"

"It's okay, Jamie!" the Fifth Hatter quickly cut in, placing a hand on his forehead, gently pushing him back down, "Everything is alright now, Jamie," she assured him gently, meeting his eyes, "Just sleep now. Sleep".

Jamie relaxed and his eyes slipped shut as he fell asleep once more, his breathing turning deep and heavy. Once he was calm again, the Sixth Doctor carefully removed the two probes from his neck, sighing heavily as he handed them back to Peri to put away in the pack, before standing, "He just gave a reasonable accurate description of the Sontarans," he said grimly, looking back down to Jamie.

"Who?" Peri asked, folding the pack back up and standing, glancing at the Time Lady, "And what did you do to him?" she nodded down to Jamie.

"Oh, just a little bit of hypnotism," the Time Lady told her, shrugging as she also stood, "It's been a long time since I last used it, though," she looked at the Sixth Doctor beside her, "The Master isn't the only one who can hypnotise your companions, apparently".

"At least you use it for good," the Sixth Doctor responded, giving her a small smile before turning serious, taking her hand, "Let's see if anything's recorded in that computer," he remarked, turning to head back towards the ladder, purposely ignoring Peri's first question.

Peri frowned, glancing back to Jamie as she followed them, "But…but what about Jamie?"

"Oh, he'll be all right," he waved her concern off, "Sleep's the best thing for him right now".

They headed back to the ladder leading up to the control room and began climbing it, the Sixth Doctor first, then Peri, and lastly, due to wearing a skirt, even with shorts, the Fifth Hatter. It didn't take them long to reach the top and find another platform to stand on as they located a section of wall panelling that they pulled off, climbing through and back into the main station, finding themselves standing in a corridor.

"Of course, I never for a moment thought that it was the Time Lords," the Sixth Doctor called back to the women as he led them down the corridor and into a large room, the control room of the station.

The room itself was quite similar to Dastari's office, only without his added flair for modern artwork and globes. On one wall, a part of it was floor to ceiling mirrors that greeted them as they entered, a small raised platform had been placed before it, while across on the other end of the room was several control panels and a large screen with a big, comfy looking chair sat before it for the technician.

"Come on," Peri scoffed at him, remembering very clearly just how badly both Time Lords had reacted to the possibility that their people might have been behind the attack. She couldn't remember ever seeing them turn so pale before. She rolled her eyes, "You had your doubts".

"She does have a point, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter agreed, stepping past them to look at the mirrors curiously, finding it a little odd to come across such a thing in a control room, but as far as she could tell they were just ordinary mirrors. She turned back to them once she had straightened her hat, "And I have to admit, I did feel that there might be a chance that they could have been behind it".

"Well, I only doubted it because of that last entry in Dastari's log," the Sixth Doctor tried to defend himself, a frown crossing his face as he moved further into the room, "They must have forced him to write that before they killed him".

Peri looked between them, "But why would they want to frame the Time Lords?" she questioned.

"Frame?" he repeated, looking as if he had never heard the term before.

"Make them appear guilty when they weren't," she clarified.

"I see," he nodded, understanding, "Set them up," he smiled slightly but it quickly faded, his expression turning troubled as he looked at the Time Lady, who looked just as concerned as he did, "I don't know," he shook his head and stepped up to the controls, looking down at them, "They're rabidly xenophobic. They probably thought the Third Zoners were getting too powerful and might align themselves with the Rutans," he pressed a couple of the controls and sat in the technicians chair, spinning it around to face the screen, hitting another button, "Is that the answer?" he asked the computer.

"No speak," the computer replied.

He raised his eyebrows, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, who appeared almost amused, "'No speak,'" he mocked slightly, turning back to the screen, "What kind of language is that?"

"Central fault. No speak".

The Fifth Hatter sighed, shaking her head, the amusement she felt before fading. That sort of talk was going to wear pretty thin, very quickly, especially when trying to work out what, or if any involvement the Time Lords might have had, "Oh, dear," she looked at the Doctor, "It looks like we disconnected one of the computer linguistic neurons. Still, the data bank should still work, try that. It might take longer and end up giving us a headache, but it's better than listening to that".

They watched as information began to stream rapidly down the screen, too fast for Peri to read and understand, but the Time Lords watched it intently. The human women sighed slightly and turned away, heading back over towards the mirror, "Doctor, Hatter?" she began.

"Hmm?" the Sixth Doctor hummed, only half listening, his eyes fixed on the screen.

"Who are the Rutans?" she questioned, looking back over to them.

"Oh, the Sontarans and the Rutans are old enemies," he informed her, tapping the control panel before him to move through the information faster, "They've been fighting each other across the galaxy for so long they've almost forgotten what started it".

"Think of it as being that game, Chinese Whispers," the Fifth Hatter added, her eyes still fixed on the screen, "The story has become so mixed with myth now that they'll never find a way to end the war. It will just keep going, which, I'm sure, the Sontarans must be thrilled about".

"Ah!" the Sixth Doctor suddenly called, finding what they were looking for, smiling slightly as he glanced at the Time Lady beside him, "There's the Kartz and Reimer work".

Peri stepped closer to the mirror and stepped up onto the platform, laughing as she caught sight of her own reflection, "Oh, I look a mess," she remarked, adjusting her top.

"Well, that makes sense now," the Time Lady sighed, shaking her head as she looked at the screen, "That explains why the Time Lords would wish to monitor the experiments done by Kartz and Reimer. I must admit, I did suspect that experiments with time travel might be involved".

"Hmm," the Sixth Doctor hummed in agreement, frowning as he looked at her, "If the holistic fabric of time were ever punctured, it'd be like putting a pin into a balloon," he looked back to the screen, narrowing his eyes slightly, "The Universe would simply collapse".

Peri, only half paying attention to the Time Lords, glanced back over to them from the mirror, "Shall I go and see if Jamie's okay?" she asked as they stared off into the distance, appearing to be deep in thought.

Neither of them moved for a long moment, "Peri, it is possible!" he suddenly breathed, his eyes widening.

"What?"

"That we were killed here," the Fifth Hatter clarified, looking slightly paler then normal. She reached across and placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and he covered it with his own hand, both taking comfort in each other presences, "That could explain why we collapsed in the TARDIS," she continued, her voice sounding soft, surprisingly devoid of emotions, "And that weakness that we both felt".

Peri stared at them, worry crossing her face as she hurried back over to them, "But…but you said you couldn't be dead then and here now," she reminded them quickly, hoping they had made a mistake by forgetting that remark.

"Yes," the Sixth Doctor nodded, his mind racing, "But if we arrived here during a time experiment, caught in an embolism and therefore outside the time flow…" he paused, frowning deeply, trying to make sense of it all, "But if we were dead then and here now…" realisation crossed his face as he looked at the Time Lady, "It means that we were at the very epicentre of the engulfed chaos," he finished quietly.

"I…I don't understand," Peri said after a moment, shaking her head.

The Fifth Hatter swallowed slightly, tightening her grip on the Doctor's shoulder, "It means, Peri," she began slowly, trying to sound calm while her hearts raced in her chest, "That the Universe has started to collapse and there's nothing that can be done to stop it".

Peri paled, looking fearful, "How…how long will it take?"

"For everything to end?" the Sixth Doctor looked at her grimly, "A very few centuries".

She suddenly laughed, the colour returning to her cheeks, "Centuries?" she repeated, looking highly amused as he stared at her, surprised. She shook her head at them, "Well, if it's going to take that long, I'll go and see if Jamie's any better."

And with that, she strolled out of the room, still laughing to herself slightly as the Sixth Doctor sighed, covering his face with his hand.

"She can't comprehend the scale of it all," he remarked after a moment, looking at the Time Lady.

"Well, to a human, a century is quite a long time," the Fifth Hatter pointed out tiredly, shaking her head, "So of course she won't see it the same way that we do, considering our longevity".

"Yes, I suppose you are right, my dear," he agreed, nodding grimly as he spun the seat around to face her properly, "The eternal blackness. No more sunsets," he stood from his chair and stepped over to the secondary controls, turning to look at her with a sad smile, "No more Gumbejacks…"

The Time Lady sighed slightly, "Oh, don't remind me about that damn fishing trip," she muttered to herself, being careful to make sure he didn't hear, knowing his love for fishing. She couldn't believe that she had spent possibly the last few hours of her life _fishing_ , bored out of her mind. That was certainly not how she thought she would spend her final hours.

"Never more a butterfly," he continued sadly, oblivious to what the Hatter had said. He sighed heavily and looked across to the end of the room, when his eyes widened in alarm, "Peri!" he shouted.

The Fifth Hatter jumped and whirled around, gasping as she caught sight of Peri trapped inside a glass tube that went from the floor to the ceiling, withering in agony, silently screaming as she beat against the glass as a blue light shone from above her. She hurried back over to the controls, trying to find a way to get Peri out as the Sixth Doctor ran to her side.

They began hitting the buttons, looking up every now and then to see if it had worked, only to look up and find Dastari withering in silent agony in the tube instead of Peri. They paused and exchanged a quick look, wondering what was going on, when they clicked the buttons again, and Dastari was replaced with the Second Doctor, also appearing to be in agony.

"What…" the Time Lady breathed, her eyes widening as the Second Doctor was replaced with her own Second regeneration, also in agony, her hat askew and her glasses missing.

The Sixth Doctor, who quickly clicked the button, unable to watch the Second Hatter appear to be in so much pain, and she was replaced by Peri, then Dastari, and even his own current regeneration, withering in pain, quickly followed by the current Hatter. He turned it off, staring at the tube for a long moment.

"Oh, of course," the Fifth Hatter suddenly gasped, a smile spreading across her face as she worked it out, her head snapping over towards the mirror, "It was the mirror," she realised, shaking her head at herself for not working it out sooner, "I knew it was a strange place to have a mirror".

"And you would be quite right," the Sixth Doctor smiled at her, his eyes twinkling with excitement at the discovery.

Footsteps sounded and Peri returned, "Doctor, Hatter," she called to them as she entered, Jamie walking beside her, looking much more calm and refreshed from his time asleep.

Jamie stopped short upon seeing the Time Lords, "They're not the Doctor and Hatter I know," he frowned, pointing an accusing finger at them.

The Sixth Doctor looked over to him, raising an eyebrow, "I am too, Jamie McCrimmon," he replied.

"It's nice to see you looking better, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter smiled at him, giving him a little wave as he blinked at them, "Now, I know this is probably quite confusing," she continued, her voice growing gentle as she spoke, not wishing to overwhelm him, trying to choose her words carefully, "But we are…another aspect of your Doctor and Hatter, just as they are of us".

"Eh?" Jamie looked at them blankly as he and Peri came to a stop before them.

The Sixth Doctor sighed slightly, "I was him, he _will_ be me," he tried.

"Just as she's me, she _will_ be me," the Time Lady added, pausing, "Just without the glasses and obsession with capes".

He continued to look at them, frowning, very confused, "Who will I be?" he questioned, pointing to himself.

The Sixth Doctor sighed again, holding up his hands, deciding that they really weren't going to get anywhere if they kept this up. He looked at Peri, who was casting Jamie a sideways look, "Peri, look at this," he told her, turning back to the controls, hitting the buttons again.

Peri followed there gaze across the room to find what appeared to be herself trapped inside a tube, screaming in silent agony. Her eyes widened in horror, "Doctor, it's horrible!" she gasped, her head snapping back around to look at him, "Stop it!"

"Life like, isn't it?" he commented, watching the image, seeming quite unaffected by it now that he knew it wasn't real, though, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stomach watching either of the Hatter's images being tortured, "Or rather, death like," he finished, switching it off once more.

"But that's how they killed the Doctor and the Hatter," Jamie insisted, nodding at the tubes, "I _saw_ it!"

"But it wasn't really us, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter told him, shaking her head, "We've started to work it out now," she gestured to herself and the Doctor, "They created this and left it behind to make it appear as if mine and the Doctor's past regeneration had been killed, but it was only ever an illusion".

"Who?" Peri asked, looking at the Time Lords as they stepped over to them.

"The Sontarans," the Sixth Doctor answered at once, prepared for her question, "They wanted to prevent any investigation into our disappearances, which means we must have been held captive somewhere".

"But…but why am I in it?" Peri nodded over to the tube, frowning.

"Ah, that was a mistake on their part," the Time Lady remarked, smiling slightly, "They forgot to turn off the animator switch, so when you looked into that mirror…" she pointed across to the mirror, "It then copied your body print".

Jamie's eye brightened, "So you don't think the Doctor and the Hatter's dead?" he questioned, quickly correcting himself, "I mean, _my_ Doctor and Hatter".

"Indeed, not," the Fifth Hatter's smile grew even wider, very happy now that things were starting to fall into place.

"And if we're not dead in that form," the Sixth Doctor went on, looking quite pleased, too as he pointed at the tube, "It means our theory about the embolism is also wrong," he smiled slightly, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "Well, this begins to have all the hallmarks of a conspiracy".

"What sort of conspiracy?" Peri asked them.

"A plot," Jamie pointed at her, looking quite pleased with himself as he turned back to the Time Lords, missing the strange look Peri gave him. The Time Lady struggled to hold back a laugh.

"That's right, Jamie," the Sixth Doctor nodded to him, "A plot to kidnap me, the Hatter, and Dastari as well," he turned away from them, his hands in his pockets, "And he's about the only bio-geneticist in the galaxy capable of isolating the symbiotic nuclei of a Time Lord".

"So that's how you control the TARDIS," Peri laughed slightly, giving them a sly smile as she looked in-between the Time Lords, "Symbiosis".

"Or try to control it, in the Doctor's case," the Fifth Hatter remarked, shooting the Sixth Doctor a teasing look, but her jovial mood quickly faded as she sighed, "But that's beside the point," she turned back to the others, "If the Sontarans were to get their hands on unlimited time travel, I dread to think what would happen. They would be invincible, not even the Time Lords would be able to stop them then".

The Sixth Doctor nodded along with her, looking determined, "We must find out where they're holding us," he touched his mouth thoughtfully.

"How could we do that?" Jamie questioned, stepping closer to them, gesturing his hands around him, "They could be anywhere".

"Well, there is a way…" the Time Lady began slowly, a frown crossing her face as she looked back to the Sixth Doctor, "We both managed to contact ourselves during the mind-slip".

"I'll try telepathy," the Sixth Doctor decided after a moment, shrugging slightly, "It's about our only chance".

"I'll stay awake and keep an eye on you," the Fifth Hatter said, following after him as he moved across to a raised platform bench against the wall, lying on his back across it, "And I'll make sure nothing interferes," she added, her eyes flickering briefly to Jamie and Peri as they joined them. She turned to them, giving them a very serious look, trying to make them understand just how dangerous what the Doctor was going to do was, "Now, you two, don't touch him, got it?" her tone was stern as she spoke, "While a Time Lords mind is out of there body, any type of contact can sever the astral link and kill them. He's going to appear to be unconscious for a little while, but don't worry, it's perfectly normal".

Peri frowned slightly, looking at the Doctor, who had closed his eyes and had his hands resting on his chest, "How long will you be?" she asked him, a little worried.

"Hmm?" he blinked, turning his head slightly to look at her, "Oh, seconds, hours, days. Who knows?" he shrugged, closing his eyes once more, "There's no such thing as time on the astral plane".

Peri sighed and turned away from him as the Time Lady stepped over to them, casting mildly concerned looks over her shoulder to the Sixth Doctor, knowing very well how easily something like that could go wrong with just the slightest loss of concentration.

"I think your Doctor's worse than mine," Jamie muttered to Peri, looking slightly amused.

"Oh, trust me, Jamie," the Fifth Hatter smiled at him, patting his arm, "They're all as bad as each other".

….… _ **Somewhere**_ …..…

The Second Doctor felt a sharp jab in his right arm as distantly, he heard the sound of a church bell ringing. The place felt cool, almost as if it was underground, and as his eyes flickered open and everything slowly came into focus, he realised he was lying down on something. A bed of some kind, possibly a hospital? He couldn't quite tell.

He looked up and frowned slightly to find Dastari stood above him, holding a piece of medical equipment that looked like a small gun. He assumed that must have been what they had used to bring him out of his drug induced sleep.

Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn't been alone at the station, the Second Hatter and Jamie had been with him, and a dull sense of panic washed over him. He could vaguely sense another Time Lord presence close by, which he assumed must have been the Hatter, and he felt relief knowing that she was still alive.

"Hatter…" he mumbled, his words slurred, "…Jamie…"

…..….. _ **Space station, the control room**_ ….….….

"Hatter!" the Sixth Doctor suddenly cried out, his eyes still closed as the Fifth Hatter could only stand back and watch, already prepared for what he might say, while Jamie and Peri jumped, rushing over, "Jamie!" he called out, whimpering slightly.

"What's happening to him?" Peri asked, turning to the Time Lady.

"He's saying what the Second Doctor says," the Fifth Hatter told them, watching the Doctor's tense face worriedly. Carefully, she moved closer to him and knelt of the floor by the side of the bench, making sure not to touch him, "Doctor, it's time to wake up," she said loudly to him, keeping her voice gentle, "Come back, sweetheart".

He breathed deeply, his eyes still closed, "Where…I am?" he questioned, his voice sounding confused and slightly slurred, "Am where I?"

"Doctor?" Peri tried, glancing at Jamie.

His eyes suddenly opened and he stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, "Peri," he finally turned his head to look at them, "Jamie," his eyes landed on the Time Lady and he smiled slightly, "Hatter. Was I away very long?"

"Just minutes," Jamie replied.

"Boing!" he called suddenly, making the others stare at him, wondering what he was going on about. Even the Time Lady was eyeing him strangely, "Boing!"

Peri and Jamie exchanged confused looks as the Fifth Hatter stood, "What?" Peri frowned.

"Bells, my dear!" he announced, leaping to his feet and grabbing the Hatter, swinging her around happily before she could even blink at him, "Come on!" he looked back to Peri and Jamie, growing even more excited, "There isn't a moment to lose!"

He grabbed the Fifth Hatter's hand and turned, marching out of the room, forcing Jamie and Peri to hurry after them.

"Where are we going?" Peri asked quickly, startled by his sudden energy.

He stopped suddenly, almost causing them to run into him, looking thoughtful, "Can't quite remember," he remarked, shaking his head, "Something to do with getting my hair cut," and with that, he turned and strolled out of the room, humming Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville'.

"Well, I'm glad your trip on the astral plan didn't cause any damage," the Fifth Hatter commented quietly, eyeing him, seeming unsure whether she should be amused or concerned.

 _ **And I have finally finished the last chapter for this story, but now that it's finished I'm not sure if there's any point to writing an original chapter. What do you think? It would basically just be the Hatter's saying goodbye to their Doctors. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **The Sixth Doctor's TARDIS**_

Once the Time Lords, Jamie, and Peri had finished in the control room, they made their way back through the station, into the kitchen, and back inside the TARDIS, where Jamie left to clean himself up and change his clothing.

The Fifth Hatter was leaning against the console, watching the Sixth Doctor as he strolled around, smiling widely with that excited glimmer in his eyes that made her wonder if she should feel nervous or excited herself. He had been in such a good mood since re-waking that it was starting to grow just a little unsettling, considering this regeneration usually less excitable nature. Even Peri seemed unsure of what to think as she stood beside the Time Lady, watching the Doctor.

"Boing!" the Sixth Doctor suddenly announced, whirling around to face them, smiling, "The largest of the twenty five bells in the cathedral at Seville," he continued cheerfully, sticking his hands inside his pockets, "Most distinctive".

"To you, perhaps," the Fifth Hatter remarked, feeling slightly more relieved now that she understand just what he was talking about, "You always have had a better musical ear then I".

Peri nodded along with her, "You certainly specialise in arcane knowledge," she said to the Sixth Doctor, moving around the console towards him.

"Of course," he agreed proudly, turning to the controls, "Now we know the area where they're holding us," he frowned thoughtfully, trying to recall each detail, "Now, it was in the distance. About three miles, I should judge," he looked across to Peri, breaking into another smile, "Have you been to Seville, Peri?"

"No," she shook her head, giving him a curious look, "Have you?"

He sighed, closing his eyes in exasperation, "How else would I know the Santa Maria when I hear it?" he opened his eyes, letting his hand fall onto the console with a dull thud, "Oh, do try and use your brain, girl," Peri looked down, looking as if she was only just stopping herself from snapping at him, "Small though it is…" he pattered her head condescendingly, "…the human brain can be quite effective when used properly".

"Doctor," the Fifth Hatter cut in sternly, casting Peri a mildly concerned look as the girl glared at him, muttering darkly something she couldn't quite catch, "Please, stop insulting people. It does make things so much harder and stressful".

"Insulting?" the Sixth Doctor repeated, giving her a startled look over the controls as he began to type something into the console, "It's not insulting if it's the truth, my dear, Hatter".

She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head, "Sweetheart, sometimes the truth can be the most insulting of all".

Peri moved around him, still glaring at him, "You might be wrong," she snapped at him.

"I am not wrong," he replied firmly, not seeming to notice her anger as he focused back on the controls, "Now, this station was attacked ten or twelve days ago," he informed them as the Time Lady moved around to stand by his side.

"Yes, which would have given the Sontaran's enough time to get to Earth," the Fifth Hatter nodded along with him, looking down at the small screen on the console, "It would have taken one of their cruiser's, even in hyperdrive that long, which means they could have only just arrived".

The door leading off to the rest of the TARDIS opened and Jamie stepped out, clean and wearing his full highlander clothing, making the three of them look over to him as he stepped closer to the controls.

"Ah," the Sixth Doctor commented, looking him up and down, "You look better for your change of clothes and bath," the corner of his mouth twitched, "You should try it more often".

"Thank you," Jamie smiled as the Time Lady nudged the Doctor's side. He blinked, remembering the last part, "What?"

"Ignore him, Jamie," Peri sighed tiredly, moving around to join Jamie, "He's being crotchety," she gave him a small smile, "I think you look wonderful".

"I am not crotchety," the Sixth Doctor interrupted, looking slightly offended that she would suggest such a thing, "I'm just…" he paused, sighing heavily as he looked away from them, "Well, concerned".

"What about?" Jamie asked him.

"About myself and the Hatter, chiefly," he answered, quickly correcting himself, "I mean, them," the Fifth Hatter placed a hand on his arm, giving it a comforting pat as he continued, "Languishing in some dark dungeon at the mercy of the Sontarans".

"Well, at least we're stuck there together," the Fifth Hatter remarked, trying to cheer him up a bit. It certainly did make her feel slightly better knowing that the Second Doctor was with her past self.

Peri frowned at him, "You can't be sure they're in a dungeon," she argued.

The Sixth Doctor shook his head at her, "There was an echo, an after resonance," he smiled grimly, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "When you've been locked in as many dungeons as we have, you wouldn't fail to recognise it," he tucked his hands inside his pocket, turning slightly happier as he looked back to Peri and Jamie, "Well, are you ready?"

"For what?" Jamie questioned, looking confused.

"Transference," he said, as if it should have been obvious. Peri quickly grabbed the edge of the console, preparing herself as the Time Lady did the same. He frowned at them, not impressed as he clicked a couple of buttons on the controls.

The TARDIS began jolting violently, sending the Doctor and Jamie crashing onto the floor, while the women managed to stay standing, until it calmed almost as soon as it had begun shaking.

Jamie pulled himself back up, glaring at the Sixth Doctor as he stood, marching around the console towards him, "Now my Doctor wouldna have done that!" he angrily pointed at him, before reaching for one of the controls.

The Fifth Hatter leaned over the controls and lightly smacked his hand away, "Don't touch, Jamie," she scolded him, "Not unless you wish to blow up half the Universe, of course".

" _Your_ Doctor is an antediluvian fogey!" the Sixth Doctor snapped at Jamie, shaking his head as the Time Lady raised her eyebrows at him, "Allowing himself to be captured by the Sontarans," he scoffed, waving a finger at Jamie, "If anything happens to myself as a result of it I will never forgive himself".

Peri huffed, giving the Sixth Doctor an annoyed look, "Oh, I do wish you would stop switching personal pronouns," she complained, "It'd make it a lot easier to understand what you're talking about".

The Time Lords opened their mouths, when Jamie nodded in agreement with her, giving them a pointed look, "Hmm".

The Fifth Hatter looked back and forth between the humans before sighing, throwing her hands in the air in frustration, "Why is it that they always end up ganging up on us?"

….…. _ **somewhere in Seville**_ ….….…

"Oh," the Second Doctor groaned, clasping a hand onto his chest, grimacing slightly as he blinked, trying to bring everything back into focus. He noticed a blurry figure standing at the end of the bed that he was lying on, "Good morning," he greeted, moving to sit up, wincing.

"Don't try to move yet, Doctor," the figure, a man, warned him.

He fell back onto the bed, narrowing his eyes as the figure came into focus, "Dastari?" he questioned, frowning at him.

"You'll feel dizzy for a time".

"So, I've been drugged, have I?" he sighed, his voice still slightly slurred. His entire body felt strangely distant and numb to him, a feeling that didn't bode well with him, "What did you use?" he asked, moving his tongue around his mouth, tasting something faintly bitter, "It feels like one of the…anomode group," he guessed.

"Absolutely right," Dastari nodded, smiling faintly, "Siralanomode".

"Siralanomode?" the Second Doctor repeated, growing alarmed as he tried to sit up again, "That effects the memory".

"We're not interested in your memory," a pretty, dark haired women stepped beside Dastari, looking vaguely familiar to the Doctor in a silver and grey dress, her hands clasped down her front.

The Second Doctor paused and turned his attention to her, eyeing her carefully, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" he looked at her for a moment before the memory came back to him, making him sigh heavily, his tone turning colder, "Oh, the augmented Androgum," he noticed the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the other side of the room and looked over to see two Sontaran's walking down a set of wooden steps. He narrowed his eyes at them, "Oh, I don't think much of the company you keep, Dastari," he remarked, glancing at Dastari.

The first Sontaran reached the bottom of the stairs and faced them, "Attention!" he called sternly to the room as the second Sontaran reached the bottom of the stairs, walking further into the room, "Group Marshal Stike of the Ninth Sontaran attack group!"

The second Sontaran came to stop before them, "Stand at ease," he told them.

"We already were, Stike," the dark haired Androgum, Chessene, the Doctor remembered, informed him, rolling her eyes slightly in annoyance, "And tell that underling of yours not to shout every time you appear," she added, throwing a look over to the first Sontaran.

"Yes, Marjor Varl," Stike turned towards the first Sontaran, his voice firm, "The Androgum is quite right," he looked back to the others as Varl moved closer, "We shall treat you as equals for the time being," he conceded.

"Very good, sir," Varl agreed, giving him a nod.

"Sontarans," the Second Doctor breathed, glaring at them, "I remember now," his eyes drifted away, recalling just how he had come to be in this place, "The space station," a deep frown crossed his face, "But I had someone with me…the Hatter!" his eyes widened fearfully, his head snapping back around to look at Dastari, "Where is she?"

"She's quite alright, Doctor," Dastari assured him, not seeming the slightest bit concerned, "See for yourself," he gestured across to the other side of the room.

He quickly looked in the direction and sighed in relief to see the Second Hatter lying on a similar bed, looking completely unharmed, sleeping peacefully, no doubt drugged. Her hat and glasses were missing, he noticed, and he couldn't help but feel a spark of concern, knowing that she wouldn't get very far without her glasses. Her eyes sight in this regeneration really was terrible, he never understood why she didn't do something to fix, especially when something like this was so likely to happen.

"What about her glasses?" the Second Doctor turned back to them, his tone growing angry, "And her hat? She won't be happy about you losing her hat".

"She won't need her glasses," Chessene replied simply.

"Then why is she here?" he demanded.

"She's a backup," Dastari answered, making the Second Doctor grow even more worried about the Time Lady, wondering just what they had in mind, "In case anything should go wrong, we will have another Time Lord to use, however unlikely that might be".

The Second Doctor swallowed nervously, casting the Time Lady a worried look, "But there was something else with us…" he said slowly, turning back to them, frowning deeply, before his eyes widened, "Jamie!" he gasped, "What have you done with Jamie?"

"Your companion is long since dead, Doctor," Chessene told him, her voice blank of emotions. The Second Doctor stared at her, looking horrified, "The Sontarans take no prisoners".

"Inflexible policy," Stike added in agreement.

"No!" the Second Doctor cried, struggling, trying to get up, "No!"

"Fasten the restraints," Chessene ordered.

"Jamie!" he continued to try and stand, trying to shove Dastari away as he grabbed his feet, holding them down, while a second Androgum with red hair hurried forward, grabbing his arms, "No!" he shouted, trying to fight against them as they pulled clamps over his ankles and wrists, locking them into place. Realising that it was useless, he stopped fighting and fell back against the bed, breathing heavily, "Oh, poor old Jamie," he murmured sadly, all the fight leaving him.

…..…. _ **Countryside**_ …..…..….

The TARDIS landed and the Sixth Doctor stepped out, looking around, having replaced his usual coat with an almost just as brightly coloured floral waistcoat that he left open over his white shirt. The Fifth Hatter followed after him, adjusting her floppy sunhat, feeling quite glad that she had forgone her tights as she was hit with an intense wave of dry heat the moment she stepped out into the bright, Spanish sun.

She squinted her eyes against the glare and took a moment to look around, finding that they had landed in what appeared to be a field, the dry, brown grass crunched beneath her shoes. It was a little strange for her, considering she spent so much of her time on Earth in Britain to be in such a dry, hot place. Still, the climate reminded her a little of Gallifrey, especially during the summer periods, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar to her.

Jamie and Peri stepped out a moment later, also squinting against the sun, looking around. Peri was dressed ideally for the heat, Jamie, though, already looked like he was starting to get hot under all the thick wool he wore.

"Officer!" suddenly, a man's voice sounded from a short distance away with a British accent. They turned in the direction as a middle aged man in a large hat with binoculars hanging around his neck hurried over to them, a young, dark haired women at his side in a pink sundress. The Time Lords exchanged a curious look, stepping closer to them, "We have to report a tragedy," the man told them, "Stark disaster has struck this simple countryside".

"That sounds terrible," the Fifth Hatter said sympathetically, trying to make herself appear a bit more professional, "Exactly what type of disaster, Mr…?" she trailed off, raising her eyebrows at the man.

"Botcherby," the man replied quickly, "Oscar Botcherby at your service, sir, madam," he nodded to them before turning the women beside him, holding out a hand towards her, "And this dark-eyed naiad is named Anita".

"Oh, come on, Oscar," Anita sighed, looking slightly exasperated by her companion's dramatics, sounding Spanish. The Time Lady couldn't blame her, though, she was slightly more amused as she cast Oscar a quick look. She turned back to the Time Lords, "There's been a plane crash," she informed them worriedly.

"Well, of course, it may not be your department," Oscar remarked to the Time Lords, running his eyes over there clothing quickly, eyeing the Sixth Doctor's waistcoat, walking around them and over to Jamie and Peri, his eyes lingering on Jamie's clothes, "I can see from your raiment that you obviously belong to the plain clothes branch".

The Sixth Doctor glanced down his front, raising an eyebrow at the Time Lady, who simply shrugged, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. She didn't know a thing about fashion, but even she knew that his taste, especially in this regeneration, in clothing was…special. He shook his head and looked back to Oscar, "Did you see this…aeroplane?" he asked, choosing his words carefully, already having a pretty good idea just what they might have seen.

"Oh, no," he shook his head, moving back over to them, "We were in an olive grove at the time it roared overhead," he explained, "We were on a moth hunting expedition," he smiled faintly, looking back and forth between the Time Lords, almost eagerly, "Are you two interested in Lepidoptera at all?"

"We are interested in everything, Mr Botcherby, but mainly, at the moment, in this crash you heard".

"It landed near Doria Arana's hacienda," Anita quickly stepped closer to them, making them focus on her, "We saw four survivors staggering towards the house".

"Well, two of them were carrying two other injured fellows," Oscar cut in.

"That's certainly very interesting," the Fifth Hatter commented, nodding slowly, giving the two a smile, "And we are very grateful to you both, you have done us a great service".

"In what way, officer?" he questioned curiously.

The Sixth Doctor exchanged a quick look with the Time Lady, "We think you saw four fugitives," he told them, making himself look grim, "Whose trail we have been for a long time. Perhaps you can lead us to this hacienda?" he glanced at Anita.

"Of course," Anita nodded at once, "It's this way," she began to lead them away from the TARDIS.

Oscar grabbed her hand, looking slightly nervous, "Should we, my dear?" he said a little too quickly, looking back to the Time Lords, "It's easy to find, officers. You just follow this road…" he gestured over to a dirt track a short distance away.

"Oh, it's not easy to find, Oscar," Anita interrupted him, giving him a soothing look, obviously used to this sort of reaction from him, "We ought to show them".

"I was thinking these men might be dangerous," he lowered his voice, quickly correcting himself, glancing at the Time Lords, "I mean, I was thinking we ought to be getting back to the restaurant," he finished, raising his voice back to normal.

Anita laughed, giving him a small smile, "Oh, we've plenty of time," she assured him.

"You'll be doing a public service, Mr Botcherby," the Sixth Doctor added, giving him a nod.

Oscar looked back and forth between the Time Lords and Anita, raising his chin, "Oh well, we Botcherbies have never shirked public service," he replied proudly, chuckling slightly, "My dear departed Father was an air raid warden in Shepton Mallet throughout the war," he continued, frowning sadly, "He slept in a steel helmet for five years," he suddenly nodded determinedly, "This way".

And with that, he turned and led them off towards the road, Anita following after him. The Time Lords exchanged a look before staring after the man, shaking their heads, and hurrying after him, Jamie and Peri jogging to catch up.

….…. _ **somewhere in Seville**_ ….….…

The Second Doctor, still restrained to the bed, watched while Dastari wheeled a large, glass capsule further into the room, bringing it to a stop beside a stone pillar a short distance away from him. He eyed it curiously, taking note that it was large enough to fit a fully gown person inside, "What have you got there?" he asked.

"The Kartz-Reimer transference module," Dastari replied, checking over the capsule, making sure that it hadn't been damaged by the tripe.

"Well, that'll never work," he scoffed, shaking his head, "I can tell that from here".

Dastari looked back over towards him, raising an eyebrow at him, "It worked well enough to bring you and the Hatter to the Space Station, Doctor".

He rolled his eyes, "All it did was to produce a few hiccups in the time continuum," he remarked, his tone turning colder as he cast Dastari a pointed look, "Enough to tell us that dangerously crude experiments were going on".

"Kartz and Reimer were clearly on the right track," he resorted, stepping over to stand by the edge of his bed, "Several Androgums successfully vanished into time during those experiments," he shrugged slightly, "Unfortunately we were unable to bring them back".

"Course you couldn't. No one can travel through time without a molecular stabilisation system".

"We know that _now_ ," Dastari smiled faintly, inclining his head towards him, "And we know that Time Lords possess a symbiotic link with their machines which protects them, and anyone with them, against destabilisation".

The Second Doctor laughing mockingly, looking away from him, wishing he could cross his arms, "Guess work," he snapped.

"Don't underestimate Chessene, Doctor," he warned him, his tone turning sharper, "Hers was the brain behind Kartz and Reimer, and it was she who first realised that the missing element had to lie somewhere in here," he made a sweeping gesture along the Doctor's body.

"So what are you going to do, hmm?" he demanded, raising a mocking eyebrow, "Cut me up, piece by piece?" his tone turned darker and dangerous, nodding over towards the still sleeping Second Hatter, "And if something goes wrong, you'll do the same thing to the Hatter!"

Dastari clasped his hands behind his back, looking unconcerned, "Let us say, cell by cell," he commented, smirking as the Second Doctor stared at him, looking even more appalled, "And gene by gene, until I isolate the symbiotic nuclei".

"When did you go mad, Dastari?" the Second Doctor exclaimed, horrified, breathing heavily.

He simply laughed at him, "I assure you, I am not at all mad".

"Then you're totally under Chessene's domination! Are you hoping to give her the power of time travel? Is that the idea?"

"I shall put her among the Gods!" Dastari glared at him from behind his glasses, moving closer towards him, determined, "There need be no limit to her achievements".

"There'll be no limit to her capacity for evil," the Second Doctor argued angrily, trying to make him see reason, "She's an Androgum, Dastari, whatever you may say! She'll snap off the hand that feeds her whenever she feels hungry".

"You don't know Chessene," he said firmly, growing calmer. He turned away from him, slowly circling the bed, "I confess, I was sad that the Time Lords chose to send you and the Hatter as their emissary," he admitted, looking back to him, his eyes flickering over to the Time Lady, "Because I've always had a certain regard for you both, Doctor, personally," he took a deep breath, almost looking apologetic, "And the operation will, by necessity, be very painful. But…"

"It'll hurt you more than it hurts me," the Second Doctor cut across him.

"What gave you that idea?" Dastari raised his eyebrows at him, shaking his head, "No, I was going to say, ' _but_ at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you have been part of a great undertaking'".

And with that, Dastari turned and walked away, heading off to another part of the room.

"You are an irresponsible old fool!" the Second Doctor shouted after him, trying to watch him go, but he disappeared out of sight around another pillar, "The Androgums are barbarians! Release them into time and every civilised people in the galaxy will curse your name! Do you hear me?" he released a breathy groan and fell back against the bed when there was no reply, "Oh, my giddy aunt," he muttered, shaking his head, "Oh, crumbs".

He looked over to the Second Hatter, wishing that she was awake, at least then they would have been able to talk. Talking to the Time Lady had always made him feel better…but, on second thought, perhaps it was better that she was asleep. At least this way she wouldn't have to witness Dastari performing the operation on him, well, hear it, since she couldn't very well see anything but a few blurry shapes without her glasses. No, it was better this way. This was the last thing he wanted her to have to see happen to him.

Even still, the Second Doctor couldn't help but wonder just what would happen to the Hatter if the procedure was successful. Surly, she would be more useful alive then dead? Or was that what the idea was, to conduct experiments on the Second Hatter once his producer had been completed? He felt sick just imagining what they might do to her, perhaps Dastari would even try to give Chessene the ability to regenerate, he wouldn't put it passed him. He was certainly mad enough to try.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps that could only belong to Sontaran coming from somewhere behind his bed.

"Dastari, why this delay?" Stike's voice demanded, drifting through the room to him, and the Second Doctor listened intently.

"Delay?" Dastari's voice repeated.

"I expected the operation to begin immediately on my arrival," Stike replied impatiently, "Time is being wasted".

"Time is not being wasted. An operation of this complexity needs careful preparation".

The sound of a cart being wheeled sounded, growing closer to the Second Doctor, and he guessed that it must have been a medical cart that Dastari was preparing with all his equipment.

"You are not efficient," Stike's voice came a moment later, sounding annoyed, "All that should have been done".

"We brought most of this equipment with us," Dastari responded, sounding as if he was starting to grow frustrated, "How could it have been installed before we got here?"

"Chessene should have brought it. There was no forward planning".

"If we had dismantled my operating theatre any earlier, the station would have been buzzing with speculation. Chessene's plan might have failed. It was not worth the risk".

"How long is this operation going to take?" Stike questioned.

"As long as it takes me to locate the symbiotic nuclei within the Time Lord's cell structure," Dastari answered tiredly, "Hours or days, I cannot say".

"Every hour is precious to me, Dastari. My Ninth group is now forming up for a vital battle in the Madillon Cluster. If successful, it could change the course of the war, so it is imperative that I must be there to lead them to victory".

"Then if time is so important, I suggest you take this to the operating theatre while I fetch the rest of my equipment".

The Second Doctor waited, expecting to hear Stike refuse or threaten Dastari for attempting to order him, but much to his surprise, Dastari strolled out of the room and Stike appeared a moment later around the corner of a pillar, wheeling the tray that, just as he had expected, carried numerous pieces of medical equipment.

"Tea time already, nurse?" he asked mockingly.

Stike stopped close to the bed, frowning at him, "I do not understand".

"Just as well," the Second Doctor remarked, shrugging slightly, "A face like yours wasn't made for laughing".

He turned away from him and pushed the trolley around to the Kartz-Reimer transference module, before turning to face him once more, "The operation must begin at once," he said, narrowing his eyes at the Doctor, "I'm needed at the front".

"Yes, I heard you," he nodded, "What was it, 'a vital strike in the Madillon Cluster?'" he raised his eyebrows, shaking his head, "Oh, dear me. Nothing changes, does it?" he scoffed, "You and the Rutans have become petrified in your attitudes".

"Nothing can change till victory is achieved!" Stike snapped, "But…" he paused, suddenly looking unsure, "But…I fear I might have made a tactical error," he looked away from him, scratching the side of his face.

"Oh? I thought Sontarans never made mistakes".

"It is not easy being commander," he defended quickly, "The loneliness of supreme responsibility".

"Why don't you resign, Stike?" the Second Doctor asked sarcastically, "Take a pension".

Stike stepped closer to him, practically leaning over the bed, "When I die, it will be alongside my comrades at the front," he replied proudly.

The Second Doctor gritted his teeth and tried to lean away from him.

….….…..…. _ **Countryside**_ ….…..…..….

Oscar and Anita led the Time Lords, Jamie, and Peri down the dirt road, until they came across a raised area where, just ahead of them, they could see the roof of the hacienda in the distance. Peri and Anita sat at the bottom of the rise, both looking quite hot, while the men watched the Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter eye the house thoughtfully, talking quietly to each other, forming a plan.

After a few minutes, they stepped down the sloping rise leading up to the house and back down to the others, "Alright, you lot wait here," the Fifth Hatter told them.

"Where are you going?" Peri asked, frowning up at them.

The Sixth Doctor struggled, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "Just for a scout round," he replied, flashing them a quick smile, taking the Hatter's hand, and setting off up the slop towards the house.

Oscar suddenly gasped, "Oh, look!"

"What?" Jamie looked at him quickly, alarmed, thinking that he had spotted someone coming.

He jogged a short distance away, staring off in the distance at something, while the two women simply watched them, "Over there," he pointed at something, grabbing his binoculars.

Jamie tried to follow his gaze, shaking his head, "I don' see anything".

"Just there," Oscar breathed, breaking into a broad smile, "An exquisite Feathered Gothic," he sighed slightly, "If only I'd brought my net".

Jamie eyed him for a long moment and glanced back to Peri, exchanging a long look.

….…. _ **somewhere in Seville**_ ….….…

"Doctor, you have a chance, in death, to help the Sontaran cause," Stike tried, placing a hand onto the Second Doctor's chest, leaning even closer towards him.

The Second Doctor grimaced, trying to lean further away from him, "How can I do that?" he questioned, trying to keep his distaste from entering his voice.

"Tell Dastari where you symbiotic nuclei is located in your cell structure," he said at once, his voice growing stern, "Vital time will be saved and I can be on my way".

"Is that what Chessene's offering you, the knowledge of unlimited time travel?" the Second Doctor asked, laughing as the Sontaran straightened and stepped back from him, much to his relief, "In that case, you should watch your back, Stike," he warned.

"What?"

"She's an Androgum! A race to whom treachery is as natural as breathing. They're a bit like you Sontarans in that respect!"

Stike suddenly slapped him, making him groan loudly in pain, his head snapping to the side, "That is for the slur on my people!" he snapped at him.

"And for that I demand satisfaction!" the Second Doctor shouted, glaring at him, trying to ignore the burning sensation on his cheek.

He shook his head at him, "You know that is impossible".

"I am challenging you to a dual, Stike!" he continued, still glaring at him, knowing that this might be his only chance of escaping…though, just how he was going to get the Second Hatter out of here, he wasn't sure, "That is traditional among Sontarans, is it not?"

"Oh!" Stike closed his fist, looking as if he was only just stopping himself from hitting the Doctor again, "I would dearly love to kill you, but…" he forced himself to step back from, his face tensing with barely restrained anger, "Unfortunately you are needed alive".

"Release me, Stike!" the Second Doctor demanded, struggling against his restraints, knowing that he would need to go a bit further, "You are not without honour, you're a coward as well".

Stike slowly turned back around to face him, his voice low and filled with anger, "As you are not a Sontaran, Doctor, you cannot impugn my honour," he spat at him, turning and leaving the room.

The Second Doctor stared after him, sighing heavily as he fell back against the bed, "Well, that didn't work, did it?" he muttered to himself tiredly.

 _ **And we've got the Second Doctor back, don't worry, the Second Hatter will make a proper appearance later. She's not going to spend the entire time unconscious. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest review:**_

 _ **Review:**_ _ **Well, I have decided to do the original chapter now, which will make the story eleven chapters long. Thanks for the review :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **Outside the House**_

The Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter quickly made their way up towards the large house, trying to be careful not to be spotted as they reached a paved area of the property, now badly over grown with grass and weeds, while in the middle of the pavement was an old fountain, long since dried up and disused. They hurried behind a large palm tree and hid behind it, peeking around the side of it, looking around. The Fifth Hatter couldn't help but think that the place must have been quite nice in the old days, back before the garden had been allowed to grow out of control and the weathered, faded paint of the stone of the building had been fresh.

They moved across to the fountain, ducking down low, casting their eyes around, and back up to the house.

"Let's just make a run for it," the Time Lady murmured to the Sixth Doctor beside her, the dry grass itched and tickled her bare legs.

He hesitated, casting one last look around, before nodding. They jumped back up and run across the pavement, over to a set of steps and up onto a short balcony, carefully running passed a barred window and over to the end of the balcony, flattening themselves against the wall, looking back the way they had come every now and then.

Slowly, the Sixth Doctor stepped away from the wall, looking back the way they had come, when the Fifth Hatter frowned, quickly grabbing his hand.

"What?" he asked, whispering as he looked back to her.

"I thought I heard voices," she replied just as quietly, looking back over her shoulder, "It sounded like a man and women".

They moved back to the wall, peering around the edge, where they noticed that a window had been left open. They exchanged a look and nodded, hurrying back over to the stairs and down them, carefully making their way along the edge of the house, keeping low as they stepped over to the window. The Sixth Doctor moved to stand on a small, wooden crate that had been left beneath it, but the Time Lady stopped him.

"Perhaps I ought to stand on it," the Fifth Hatter suggested softly, casting the crate a dubious look, "It looks like it would brake under your weight".

"Under my weight?" he repeated, looking affronted, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that…well, I'm lighter then you are".

The Sixth Doctor narrowed his eyes at her, looking as if he was going to argue, when she sighed and stepped past him, carefully stepping up onto the crate before he could stop her, grabbing hold of the bar that was on the outside of the window as the crate jostled slightly under her weight. She was glad that she had stopped him, even with her standing on top of the create it felt very badly balanced and far to spindly for her comfort, as if it was going to break in half at any moment.

He shot her a look as he moved closer to the window to listen, muttering to softly for her to hear under his breath about it being his luck to have such an strong minded best friend, though, he did have to admit that it made things far more interesting.

The Time Lady peered around the window frame, looking inside a small kitchen that had a large wooden table sitting in the middle of it, where a man with red hair was sitting at the end of it, reading what appeared to be a recipe book. She narrowed her eyes at him, but she couldn't make out his face as he was turned away from the window, that's when she noticed a pretty, dark haired women standing before the fireplace, her hand resting on the mantle, wearing a grey and silver gown. She eyed her curiously, the women looked human, but her dress was all wrong.

"…vats of boiling liquid," the red headed man was saying to the women, looking down at the recipe book in his hands, "The strange thing is, however, is that I can find no recipes for cooking the human animal".

"There are races that do not eat their own kind," the women replied, shrugging.

"Oh, but a species that is at the top of the food chain as these creatures are, must develop the finest flavour of all," he remarked almost dreamily as the Fifth Hatter wobbled on the crate, almost toppling off, but she managed to right herself, "They have the pick of the planet's resources and all that goodness is concentrated…"

The Fifth Hatter wobbled again, but as she tried to right herself, the crate fell beneath her, sending her crashing into the Sixth Doctor, causing them both to fall onto the hard ground under the window, limbs tangled.

"Listen!" the women hissed from within the kitchen.

The Time Lords winced painfully, trying to untangle themselves from each other, when they heard footsteps approaching the window and quickly scrambled closer to the wall, flattening themselves against it, hardly daring to breath, half expecting to be discover. A tense moment past before the window above them closed with a clatter.

Once they were sure that they weren't about to be caught, the Time Lords untangled themselves from each other, and carefully stood, "I thought you were supposed to be lighter, Hatter," the Sixth Doctor remarked innocently.

The Fifth Hatter shot him a look, reaching around to smack the back of his head, "Cheeky," she muttered, almost sounding fond as she began to walk back the way they had come.

… _ **Countryside**_ ….…..…

"So, you're an actor?" Peri said to Oscar while they waited for the Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter to return. She, Jamie, Oscar, and Anita were all lying on the ground of the slope, ready to duck down out of sight should anyone come by them.

Oscar smiled broadly, "For my sins".

"What're you acting in in the moment, Oscar?" Jamie asked curiously.

His smile dimmed slightly, "I'm between roles at the moment, so I'm managing a restaurant for a friend of mine," he informed them, Jamie nodded in understanding, "Las Cadanas in the Bario Santa Cruz".

"Quiet, Oscar," Anita suddenly held out a hand out towards him, hearing approaching footsteps crunching the grass, "Someone's coming".

They all laid down on the grass, ducking below the top of the slope as the Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter walked over to them, clearing their throats as they spotted the group trying to hide, looking slightly amused. They all looked up, sighing in relief that it was them as they sat up.

"Oh, Doctor, Hatter, you scared us," Peri commented, shaking her at them as the Time Lords moved further down the slope, sitting in the shadow of a tree, "Do you have to creep up like that?"

"You were expecting a brass band?" the Sixth Doctor resorted, casting her a quick look, making her roll her eyes.

"Did you find out anything?" Jamie questioned, looking between the Time Lords.

"Aside from the Hatter being heaver then she claims…"

The Fifth Hatter smacked his arm, giving him a sharp look as he yelped, quickly rubbing the spot, "Never make jokes about a women's weight, Doctor," she told him sternly, giving him a mock sweet smile, "The next time you do, I'll be aiming for the cheek".

He winced, still rubbing the spot with a painful grimace, while Jamie and Peri exchanged an amused look, "I will keep that in mind," he said warily, before shaking his head, turning back to the others, "As I was saying, we didn't find anything, but the Sontarans are here," his tone turned grim, "We can sense their presence".

"Who are the Sontarans?" Oscar frowned, looking confused.

"Don't ask," Jamie advised him warningly, pointing at him, "Just hope you don't meet one".

The Fifth Hatter nodded in agreement with him, before looking over to Anita, "Anita, the Dona Arana, was she a tall, quite pretty young women with dark hair?" she asked, already suspecting that the women she had seen in the kitchen wasn't from this world.

"No," Anita shook her head, frowning, "She's small and frail and has white hair".

She sighed, feeling sorry for the old women, having a pretty good idea just what had happened to her, she just hoped that it had been quick, "Yes, as I had thought," she said sadly, exchanging a look with the Sixth Doctor, "I'm afraid that I couldn't see the man that she was with very well, just that he had red hair," she paused, looking thoughtful, "I suppose that he could have been human".

"What do you mean, 'could have been human?'" Oscar repeated, looking amused as he looked around at the others, expecting them to have a similar reaction, only to find that Jamie and Peri appeared completely unsurprised.

The Sixth Doctor meet his eyes, "That noise you heard was a spacecraft landing," he told him, making Oscar stare at him, "That hacienda…" he nodded back over to the house, "Is now in the possession of what you would term an 'alien beings'".

Oscar tried to laugh him off, "You are joshing me, officer, are you not?" his tone grew unsure, almost worried.

"Joshing?" he frowned, looking questioningly to the Time Lady.

" _Joking_ , Doctor," the Fifth Hatter clarified for him.

"That woman," Jamie began, looking at the Time Lady, "Was she wearing a long grey frock?"

She blinked at him, surprised, "Well, yes," she nodded slowly, smiling slightly, "I suppose you could call it that".

"Well, she was at the Space Station, then".

The Time Lords exchanged a look, "Was she now?" the Sixth Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Aye," he pointed at them, frowning, "Dastari said she was a…hungryman or something".

"Androgum?" the Time Lords cried in unison, the Fifth Hatter's eyes widening, startled.

"Aye, that's it".

"Well, that would explain why she was there," the Time Lady commented, before pausing, glancing at the Sixth Doctor, "Though, I would never have known from looking at her. Her features were far softer than any other Androgum I have come across".

"Oh, he said he'd done some operations that had turned her into a genius," Jamie informed them.

The Time Lords eyes widened, even more alarmed, "What a stupid thing to do!" the Sixth Doctor exclaimed, frowning deeply.

"That's what the Doctor and Hatter said!"

"And we were right," he agreed, exchanging a grim look with the Time Lady, "Whatever he's done to her mind, her nature will stay exactly the same, and Androgums have as much emotional capacity as…" he looked pointedly to Peri and the Time Lady, "As a gumblejack".

"Well, what's the next move, Doctor, Hatter?" Peri questioned them.

"We have to find a way of getting into that hacienda without being detected," he answered.

"I know a secret way into the cellars," Anita spoke up, her eyes brightening as they all turned to her, "It used to lead from the old ice house".

"The cellars?" he said slowly, nodding, breaking into a smile, "That sounds even better. Peri," he turned to Peri, giving her a serious look, "You'll have to cause a distraction while Jamie, the Hatter, and I try and find where we're being held".

Peri shook her head, looking nervous, "What…what sort of distraction?"

He sighed, looking exasperated, "Do I have to think of everything? Knock on the door and say you're lost".

"I don't speak Spanish!"

"Perhaps I should go with Peri," the Fifth Hatter cast the girl a slightly concerned look, not liking the idea of leaving her on her own with Androgums around. They had a fondness for human flesh, as she remembered. The Sixth Doctor frowned at her, while Peri looked hopeful, "And, given the situation, I think it would be better if we stick together".

The Sixth Doctor eyed her for a moment, looking unsure. He didn't like the idea, but he did have to admit that it was more practical and safe for them to split into two's, rather than one of them to go off on their own, "Oh, very well," he sighed after a moment of consideration, pointing a stern finger at her, "Just be careful".

The Time Lady rolled her eyes fondly, "I always am, sweetheart," she smiled at him.

He returned the smile and quickly stood, "Right, Anita," he rubbed his hands together as Jamie and Anita both stood. He looked at her, "You'd better show us this ice house".

"But what if a Sontaran answers the door?" Peri asked, biting her bottom lip worriedly.

"Oh, I doubt that will happen," the Fifth Hatter smiled comfortingly at her, standing and brushing her skirt down of dirt and grass, "They'll be busy doing something else, I expect. No, they will be wanting to keep a low profile, when you look like a Sontaran, that's hardly going to help".

"Just do as the Hatter says," the Sixth Doctor instructed Peri, holding out a hand, and helping her to stand, turning to Jamie and Anita, "Come on. Lead on".

And with that, he, Anita, and Jamie set off for the house, while the Time Lady flashed Peri another comforting smile, following after them. Peri sighed heavily, glancing at Oscar, and reluctantly went after the Time Lady.

As they neared the house, the Sixth Doctor, Jamie, and Anita went off towards where a separate shed was at the back of the house, while Peri and the Fifth Hatter walked around to the front of the house, making their way through a set of large gates and into a courtyard area.

"Come along, Peri," the Time Lady smiled softly at her, taking her arm, lightly tugging her along beside her, "Everything will be perfectly fine, just follow my lead".

"Easy for you to say," Peri muttered nervously, looking around the courtyard as they headed over to where a set of steps were leading up to a very large, wooden door. There was even weeds growing up through the concrete, "You're used to doing this sort of thing".

"Well…yes, that is true," she agreed, shrugging, "But that should only make you feel all the more reassured".

She turned back to the door and raised her hand, knocking twice on the wood.

….…. _ **somewhere in Seville**_ ….….…

The Second Doctor tried to lean away from Dastari as he held an injector gun in his hand, moving it closer to his arm, but he could only eye it warily with his arms and legs strapped down to the table.

"I'm afraid I'm unable to give you a full anaesthetic," Dastari informed him, moving the injector closer to him.

"Doing the job on the cheap, are you?" the Second Doctor tried to scoff, but his nervousness seeped into his voice, his eyes glued to the device, almost as if looking at it would stop it from being injected into him.

Dastari sighed slightly, "You'll have to be conscious while the neuron bombardment excites your brain cells so I will then be able to examine them," he explained to him patently.

"You should be examining your own brain cells, Dastari!" he snapped angrily, still trying to lean away from him, "Most of them must have leaked out of your ears or you wouldn't be involved in this madness!"

"This injection will simply inhibit the Motor Circuits," he remarked calmly, placing the device onto the Second Doctor's right arm and injecting him, making him wince loudly, uselessly trying to struggle against his bounds.

"Get on with it, Dastari!" Stike ordered, annoyed as he stood behind the bed with Chessene and Varl, watching the proceedings, "You delay my war effort!"

The Second Doctor moaned weakly, starting to feel the effects of the drug already, his eyes starting to feel heavy. He gave up trying to struggle, feeling too groggy as his head fell back down onto the bed.

Dastari cast Stike a sharp look as he removed the device from the Second Doctor's arm, "If you want this operation to succeed, Group Marshall," he said sternly, "You will allow me to proceed as I decide and at the pace I consider appropriate," he looked down to the Doctor, his voice growing softer as Stike huffed angrily, "Count backwards from ten, Doctor," he instructed him.

"Certainly not!" the Second Doctor glared at him, trying to make his voice sound stronger, fighting to keep his eyes open, "Do you expect me to co-operated in my own murder?" he tried shouting at him, but his tongue felt heavy, making him say complete gibberish, before he fell back against the bed weakly, unable to keep his eyes open any longer, and he passed out…

….…. _ **Courtyard of the house**_ …..

The Fifth Hatter sighed and knocked on the front door again, but still there was no answer as she and Peri stood before the large door, waiting.

"Maybe they're not home?" Peri suggested hopefully, glancing at the Time Lady beside her.

The Time Lady smiled slightly, giving her an amused look, "I like your optimism," she commented, moving back to look up at the windows of the house, trying to see if there was any movement. She thought she saw a shadow move across one window, but it was gone before she had a chance to really look.

"What are we going to say?" Peri asked, moving to sit on the steps, "They're going to want to know what we want, right?"

"Good point," she nodded at her, a thoughtful look crossing her face as she cast her eyes around the rundown courtyard, "We're too far away to be trying to sell them something…"

"What about…students?"

"Students?"

"We could say that we're looking for accommodation, or something".

The Fifth Hatter seemed to think about it for a moment, before breaking into a broad smile, "Perfect!" she cheered excitedly, "That ought to work. Oh, well done, Peri!" she pointed at her.

Peri smiled at her, feeling quite pleased. The Sixth Doctor never would have acted that way, if anything, he probably would have made another comment about what humans can do when they use their brains, "You really think it'll work, then?" she questioned, standing and moving back over to the door.

"Yes," she replied, still smiling broadly at her, "Yes, I truly do believe that it will work. The Doctor really doesn't give you enough credit, still, that can't be helped," she sighed slightly, shaking her head, "This regeneration is one of his more difficult ones to deal with, I'm afraid".

Peri couldn't help but agree with that, as much as she had begun to slowly like this version of him, she did miss the Fifth Doctor's gentle nature. She gave herself a shake and knocked on the door, "Hello?" she called loudly through the door, waiting a moment for someone to reply, but when no one did she tried again, "Is anyone there?"

….…. _ **Entrance to the Icehouse**_ ….….

The Sixth Doctor and Jamie stood outside a small, almost hidden door, watching as Anita carefully opened it, making sure that it didn't squeak as she peered through it, making sure no one was waiting inside, before turning back to them.

"Shall I come with you?" she asked them quietly.

"No, you've done quite enough already, bringing us here, Anita," the Sixth Doctor replied, shaking his head, glancing at the door. He looked back to her, "I want you to collect Oscar and get off the estate as quick as possible," he told her, holding out a hand for her.

Anita nodded and took his hand, but rather then shake it, she stepped closer to him and kissed his cheek, leaving him very shocked as he stared at her as she turned, starting to walk away. He blinked, quickly shrugging it off as he stepped over to the door and carefully inside.

Jamie hurried after Anita, "Anita!" he called to her, making her stop and turn around, looking curious. He held out his hand with a hopeful smile, "Bye".

She smiled at him and shook his hand, "Good luck".

And with that, she let go of his hand and walked off, leaving Jamie looking quite disappointed.

….…. _ **The houses entrance hall**_ …..

Eventually, someone did answer the door, the same dark haired woman that the Fifth Hatter had seen through the window, and she let them into a large entrance hall with a tiled staircase at the back of the room leading up to the upper floors, with arched doorways around the room, leading off to other rooms.

"American students?" the woman commented, raising an eyebrow as she looked between the Fifth Hatter and Peri.

"Yes," Peri smiled at her, trying to hide her nervousness, "We're planning to send parties every year and we're…" she trailed off, looking unsure as she glanced at the Time Lady.

"Looking around the area," the Fifth Hatter said quickly, shrugging casually as she tried to discreetly cast her eyes around the room without the woman catching on. She could already sense the woman trying to read her mind, but she easily deflected any attempts and closed her mind off from her. After all, Borusa had been the one to teach both her and the Doctor telepathy. She gave her a small smile, not missing the small frown on her face as she seemed to eye the Time Lady closely, "We're looking for suitable accommodation, and we thought that this place might be just right for what we have in mind".

"I thought you said that you were American students?" the woman frowned slightly, her gaze fixed on the Hatter, "But you have a British accent".

"I'm a part of an exchange programme," she invented easily, still smiling calmly as she noticed out of the corner of her eye Peri tensing, "It's for gifted students," she added, pinching herself through her skirt to stop herself from laughing aloud.

"I see," she said slowly, still eyeing her carefully.

Peri walked across the room, looking around, pretending to be admiring the Spanish deco, "Can I ask, do you live alone or are there other occupants?" she questioned, trying to distract her from the Time Lady.

"I live alone," the woman answered. Footsteps sounded on the stairs and they all turned to see the red headed man that the Fifth Hatter had also seen coming down the stairs. Her eyes lingered warily on the very large sword-like knife hanging on his hip. The woman looked back to them, "Apart from my servant," she continued, inclining her head towards them, "Wait here, please".

She and the red headed man walked into the next room as Peri moved closer to the Time Lady, who was watching them go, "What are they doing?" she asked her quietly, trying to peer inside the room.

The Fifth Hatter sighed slightly, glancing at her, "I expect they're debating if and how they will cook us," she remarked softly, making Peri look at her, startled. She shrugged, "Though, that woman is certainly suspicious of us".

"Well, what are we going to do?"

She looked at her calmly, giving her a small smile, "Make sure they know we will be missed if we disappear," she pattered her shoulder gently, winking, "Don't worry, everything will be perfectly fine".

….….. _ **Inside the icehouse**_ …..…..

The icehouse was dimly lit with sunlight shining through thin strips of wood on the slatted windows and the floor was covered with straw. Jamie stood at the end of the small room, pulling a trapdoor up as the Sixth Doctor stepped back inside the room, having wanting to make one final check outside before going any further.

Jamie moved to climb down the wooden ladder in the trapdoor, but the Sixth Doctor stopped him, grabbing his arm. He stepped closer to the edge, looking down into the darkened space beneath, before carefully placing a foot on the first step, slowly making his way down, "Mind how you go, Jamie," he warned him, "This ladder seems a…" he broke off with a loud cry of surprise as he fell, landing with a thud.

Jamie peered down at him, trying hard not to smile, "'A wee bit rickety,'" he finished, highly amused as he raised his eyebrows at him, "Is that what you were goin' to say, Doctor?"

The Sixth Doctor groaned slightly, rubbing his back with a painful grimace as he pulled himself back onto his feet, "Good thing the Hatter wasn't here, otherwise she would never let me forget it," he muttered to himself, sighing heavily.

Once Jamie had climbed down, being careful not to make the same mistake as the Sixth Doctor had, the two of them set off down the short, darkened tunnel, until they came across a door. They opened it, carefully peering out to find that they had reached the cellar that was full of old wine barrels and even a few wooden chairs that were scattered around the large area.

Slowly, they creeped out of the door and further into the room, casting their eyes around as they moved over to a pillar, the Sixth Doctor held up his hand to Jamie to stop him, and peered around the edge of the pillar. He quickly spotted Dastari and a red headed man seeming to be strapping his Second regeneration into a wheelchair beside an operating table. From what he could tell, his other selves head was hanging limply, as if he was unconscious.

He and Jamie darted across the room to the next pillar, edging around it to crouch behind a couple of barrels that had been placed beside the pillar. They watched as Dastari and the man wheeled the Second Doctor across the room towards a staircase, before deciding that it was safe enough to move out from behind the barrels.

Jamie began to go after the two men as they disappeared around the corner, but the Sixth Doctor caught his arm, pulling him back. Jamie frowned at him, "Are we not going after them?" he whispered.

"Let's have a good look around here, first," the Sixth Doctor replied, glancing back to the middle of their room, where the operating bed and equipment that really didn't belong was.

"But there's only two of them," he tried, "We could easy…"

"One of them's an Androgum, Jamie!" he cut across him quickly, holding up a hand to stop him from interrupting, his tone very serious, "He could break us both in half with one hand".

….…. _ **The houses entrance hall**_ …..

"And, er…how many bedrooms?" Peri asked, trying to hide her nervousness, while the Fifth Hatter strolled around the entrance hall, trying not to look as if she was lingering, though, she doubted anything she or Peri would do now would be of much use. They were already suspicious of them.

"Seven," the woman answered at once.

Dastari and the red headed man entered the room with a wheelchair, and the Fifth Hatter had to force herself not to react as she caught sight of the Second Doctor strapped into the chair, his head hanging limply, unconscious. She plastid a politely curious look onto her face as she stepped back over to Peri and the woman, both of whom had turned to look.

Peri frowned and looked back to the dark haired woman, not recognising the man at all for the Doctor, something that the Time Lady was very glad for, "I thought you said you lived alone?" she said.

"Visitors," the woman told them calmly, smiling pleasantly, but the Fifth Hatter didn't like it at all. It had been a test, then, trying to see what their reaction would be to seeing the Second Doctor, she just couldn't tell if they had past yet. Dastari and the red headed man wheeled the chair to stop before them, giving them a clear view of the Doctor. The woman glanced at them, "Take him through," she said, gesturing across the room to another room.

The two men wheeled the Second Doctor over to the doorway and through into the next room, while the women watched them go.

The Fifth Hatter glanced at the woman, trying very hard not to look or sound as worried as she truly was for her best friend, "Is he quite alright?" she asked, her tone innocent, "Does he need a doctor…?"

The woman inclined her head, "That's not necessary," she said politely, "He has had rather a tiring time lately".

The red headed man moved back into the room and over to them, his eyes lingering on the Fifth Hatter and Peri, making the Time Lady struggle not to grimace, noticing the hungry glint in his eyes, "Madam?" he turned to the woman.

"Shockeye, show these young women around," the woman smiled at him, holding out a hand towards Peri and the Time Lady. The Hatter moved closer to Peri, noticing how nervous she was getting, obviously having seen the hungry glint, too, "They might be particularly interested in the _kitchens_ ".

Shockeye broke into a broad smile, bowing his head at the woman, his eyes flickering over to the Time Lady and Peri. The Fifth Hatter winced, practically able to see him licking his lips, "With pleasure, madam," he remarked.

"Actually…" the Fifth Hatter cut in, grabbing Peri's hand as Shockeye began to move towards the kitchen door. She fixed a bright smile to her face as she looked back to the woman, "I think we have about as much information as we need. Thank you very much for your time…" she started to edge towards the front door, lightly tugging Peri along with her.

"Come," Shockeye held a hand out towards them, his voice low.

The Time Lady tried not to sigh as she continued to edge away from them, "Oh, we couldn't possibly," she said, shaking her head, trying to sound as if she had just remembered, "We're meeting our friends for lunch and they will be terribly worried if we are late".

And with that, she and Peri hurried over to the front door, throwing it open, trying hard not to run as they darted out into the sunny courtyard.

….… _ **Cellar**_ ….….…..

The Sixth Doctor stepped further into the middle of the room, casting his eyes around at the small table that was set up beside the operating table that he guessed his past self-had been strapped to at one point, judging by the thick straps that were hanging over the side of the bed. He noticed a curious capsule that had been placed by a pillar, big enough to fit a fully grown person. He moved closer to it, but shook his head, knowing that he needed to focus on finding the Second Hatter before he could investigate further.

Jamie stood back and watched as he looked around the room, when the Sixth Doctor caught sight of the edge of what appeared to be a second operating table that had been wheeled behind a stack of old barrels off to the side of the room. He hurried over to it and sighed in relief, finding the Second Hatter strapped to the bed, appearing to be asleep and unharmed, with her hat and glasses missing.

"There you are," he smiled, moving closer to her, quickly examining her to make sure that she was unharmed. He checked her pulse first, nodding in satisfaction to find that both hearts were beating normally, then he checked her pupils, watching them closely.

Jamie followed after him, watching as the Doctor leaned down closely to the Time Lady's face, lifting one eye open, "What's wrong with her?" he asked worriedly, moving around to the other side of the bed.

"She's been drugged, Jamie," the Sixth Doctor replied grimly, gently letting her eye slip closed again, and tilting his head towards her mouth and nose, listening to her breathing. He nodded to himself as he straightened, satisfied with his diagnosis, "I would say…something in the anomode group," he turned back around and headed over to the small table that had pieces of medical equipment left out on it, breaking into a broad smile as he came across what he had been looking for, "Ah, ha!"

"What's that?" Jamie nodded to the small, gun like device he was holding as he dashed back over to the Time Lady.

He held up the device, slotting a small tube of clear liquid into it as he did so, "This should bring her around," he told him, undoing the straps that were holding the Second Hatter's arms down, and rolling the sleeve of her dress up, positioning the end of the device against her upper arm. He injected the liquid into her arm and pulled the device back, quickly using his thumb to rub the spot he had injected, watching her face closely.

After a moment, the Time Lady's eyes flickered, looking bleary and confused, "What…Doctor, Jamie…" she slurred softly, forcing the two men to lean closer towards her, trying to hear, "I can't see…my glasses…." her eyes slipped shut and her head fell limply onto her shoulder, unconscious once more.

Jamie frowned deeply, looking very confused as he looked back up to the Doctor, only to find him smiling happily, "I thought you said it was supposed to wake her up," he said in an accusing tone, pointing at him.

The Sixth Doctor sighed in exasperation, "It needs _time_ to make its way through the rest of her system, Jamie," he informed him patently, shaking his head at him.

He eyed him, still looking unconvinced, "Are you _sure_ that was the right drug?"

"Of course I'm sure," the Doctor said at once, affronted as he fixed him with a look, "Do you truly think I would make such a mistake when it comes to my best friend?" he didn't give Jamie a chance to speak as he continued briskly, "No. Now, get these straps off her".

Together they undid the straps on the Time Lady's legs, and the Doctor quickly put an arm beneath her knees and under her back, carefully lifting her into his arms, trying to support her head against his chest and stop her dress from sliding up her legs. If only she had worn trousers in this regeneration, that certainly would have made less awkward in situation like this. Still, at least she had tights, he didn't think he would be able to hide his blush if she hadn't.

"What about her glasses?" Jamie asked as they moved back to the main part of the room.

He paused and looked down at the Time Lady's face, not having really payed that part much mind. From what he remembered, the Hatter's Second regenerations eyesight really had been terrible, which posed a rather big issue when it came to the very high possibility of needing to run. He sighed heavily, turning back to Jamie, "We will have to deal with that latter, for now…" his eyes drifted across the capsule he had noticed earlier, "For now we investigate down here. Jamie, hold her," he didn't give Jamie a chance to argue before he practically shoved the Time Lady into his arms, almost causing him to stagger back at the sudden extra weight. The Doctor began to turn away, before throwing him a stern look, "And be careful with her. She's not a sake of potatoes".

"I know how to carry a person," Jamie muttered, slightly annoyed as he adjusted the Hatter in his arms, trying to make her more comfortable.

The Sixth Doctor strolled over to the capsule, pulling the door open, and stepped inside the small space while Jamie watched on. He began examining the interior controls, a deep frown settling onto his face as a removed a small piece of equipment, stepping back out, "They've got it almost exactly right," he remarked, moving around to the controls that were on the side of the capsule, "Even down to the Briode Nebuliser," he pointed down at the device in his hand, "Look!"

Jamie looked at the capsule curiously, "Well, what is it?"

"The Kartz-Reimer version of the TARDIS".

"A TARDIS?" he exclaimed, incredulously.

"Mm," he nodded, focused on the outside controls.

"Will it work?"

"Hmm?" the Sixth Doctor straightened, glancing up at him as he toyed with the device in his hand, closing the door, "It will if I or the Hatter use it, or any other Time Lord, but not for anyone else".

Jamie looked at him curiously, "Why not?" he questioned.

"This machine has to be primed," he explained to him, gesturing at the capsule, "By what we call the Rassilon Imprimatur, that's a kind of symbiotic print within the psychology of a Time Lord," he moved around to look at the other side of the capsule, crouching onto the floor as he continued his examination. Jamie sighed slightly, really not understanding a word that he was saying. He stood and moved back around to stand beside Jamie, "Once that's been absorbed into the Briode Nebuliser you have a time machine that anyone can use," he smiled almost smugly, lightly tapping Jamie's shoulder as he leaned closer to him, "That, of course, was what _they_ didn't understand," he slipped the device inside his waistcoat, still smiling, "They simply copied the technology, without realising that old Rassilon had a second trick up his sleeve".

"A most interesting lecture, Time Lord," a deep, slightly gravelly voice called throughout the room.

Jamie jumped, but luckily kept his hold of the Time Lady as he and the Doctor turned to find two Sontaran's standing behind them in the shadows, the one who had spoken raised a thin, black stick up and aimed it at them.

….…..… _ **Countryside**_ ….…..

The Fifth Hatter and Peri ran down a slope, trying to get away from the house and hopefully back to somewhere that they could hide out and wait for the Sixth Doctor and Jamie to return. The Time Lady looked back over her shoulder, swearing softly in Gallifreyan as she caught sight of Shockeye chasing after them, quickly closing the gap between them. Even from here, she could see the hungry glint in his eyes, which was rather unsettling.

She grabbed Peri's hand and tried to pull her along faster, dodging trees and small bushes as the run, only for Peri's foot to get caught against a rock, sending them both sprawling painfully onto the dry grass.

"Ow!" Peri groaned, trying to pull herself back up.

The Fifth Hatter, wincing, quickly sat up, ignoring the pain that shot up her legs as she did so, only to find Shockeye standing above them, having caught up with them. She swallowed slightly nervously, knowing that they were in trouble now.

"Pretty, pretty," Shockeye eyed them hungrily, licking his lips as he leaned down towards both women, "Here, my pretty ones".

Peri looked up to him, her eyes widening fearfully as he reached down towards them, heading towards their throats…

 _ **And the Second Hatter makes another appearance and speaks, lots more of her to come. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **Countryside**_

As Shockeye's hands came closer and closer to the Fifth Hatter and Peri's throats, they tried to scramble backwards, ignoring the dry grass that scratched the back of their legs and dug into the palms of their hands.

"Steady, my little beauties," he caught Peri's arm and the Hatter's shoulder, yanking them back towards him as they desperately tried to get away.

"Let go!" the Fifth Hatter shouted, trying to kick at him, but it made little difference even when she did manage to connect with his shine. He hardly flinched, "I'm warning you, let us go right now!"

Shockeye seemed more amused by her shouting and struggling, "Ah, come to Shockeye!" he grinned hungrily at them, chuckling as he pulled both women closer to him.

"No!" Peri cried fearfully, trying to pull against him as he held them tighter, almost hitting their heads together.

The Hatter swallowed nervously, grimacing as Shockeye's breath hit her face, her mind racing. She and Peri were trapped, their only possible chance of escape was if the Sixth Doctor and Jamie were to find them, something she wasn't holding her breath out on. The only possible chance of getting out of this without being cooked was if Shockeye was to choose Peri instead of her, though she hated to even think about it. He would only be able to take one of them back up to the house with him, which meant that if she could be left behind, then she might be able to get back up to the house and save Peri. It wasn't an ideal plan, so many things could go wrong, but it was the only one she could think of. Still, she had to try one last time.

The Time Lady carefully reached inside the pocket of her skirt, glad that Shockeye hadn't grabbed her wrist, and withdrew a silver pen. She awkwardly brought it up to aim at Shockeye's face, or as close to it that she could manage, "Let us go, or I'll use this very powerful laser on you!" she threatened.

Shockeye simply laughed harder and smacked the pen out of her hand, causing her to yelp painfully, automatically moving to cradle her hand. He hadn't broken it, as far as she could tell, luckily. He grabbed her and Peri's wrists, eyeing the skin on them, "Oh, what fine, fleashy beast!" he remarked happily as he examined Peri's wrist, "Just in your prime, and ripe for the knife!" he suddenly hit Peri on the top of her head, letting her collapse onto the ground, unconscious before turning his attention onto the Time Lady. He eyed her wrist closely, making the Hatter feel ill, "Hmm, lovely and soft…" he sighed slightly, looking disappointed, "Not a lot of meat, though".

And the next thing the Hatter knew, his hand was coming down hard on top of her head, and everything faded to blackness.

….… **Cellar** …..…..…

The Sixth Doctor stood calmly before the two Sontarans, while Jamie had his hands up, having placed the Second Hatter on the floor leaning against a pillar. She was still fast asleep, but she had stirred slightly when he had sat her down.

"Val!" the first Sontaran turned to the second, his eyes fixed the Sixth Doctor, "Inform Chessene that we have another Time Lord for her collection".

Val nodded, lowering his weapon that he had aimed on the two men, "Very good, sir," he turned and left the room, making his way upstairs.

The first Sontaran aimed his weapon at the Sixth Doctor and Jamie, stepping closer to them, "I am Group Marshall Stike, Commander of the Ninth Sontaran Battle Group," he introduced himself.

"Long way from the war, aren't you, Stike?" the Sixth Doctor commented, raising his eyebrows at him, "Going badly, is it?" he added with a hint of mocking in his tone.

"On the contrary," he said quickly, narrowing his eyes at him, "And thanks to the information you've just given me, I shall be back in time for the crucial battle".

He shrugged slightly, "My money's still on the Rutans".

Stike, not looking pleased by what he had said, gestured with his weapon over to the Kartz-Reimer module, "Into the machine, Time Lord," he ordered.

"Why?" the Sixth Doctor asked, frowning at him. He paused, taking a moment to think about it, his eyes drifting across to the module, "Oh, of course," he sighed before giving Stike an incredulous look, scoffing, "You don't really expect me to give the Sontarans the power of unlimited time travel, do you?"

Stike suddenly grabbed Jamie's arm, twisting it across his throat, almost strangling Jamie in the process as he groaned painfully, trying to struggle against him. Stike looked back over to the Sixth Doctor, pressing his weapon against Jamie's head, "Do it, or you comrade dies," he warned, seriously. The Doctor's eyes widened, hesitating as he looked back and forth between them, "Get in!" he demanded.

The Sixth Doctor slowly edged around them, eyeing the Sontaran warily as he stepped over to the module, and opened the door, sitting down inside. Once the door was closed, Stike leaned over to the outside controls and used his weapon to press the buttons, before pulling Jamie away from the device as it started up. The device began making echoing, beeping sound as it faded away, dematerialising. A moment past and the noise sounded again, before the device reappeared again with the Doctor still inside in exactly the same spot.

Calmly, the Doctor stood and opened the door, stepping out as Jamie closed his eyes briefly, relieved that it had apparently worked, "Satisfied?" the Doctor questioned, raising an eyebrow at Stike.

Stike eyed him carefully, "So, the machine is now primed?"

"Yes".

"Excellent," he smirked, not noticing Jamie's hand slowly moving down towards his right leg, "I shall execute your comrade…"

"Wait!" the Sixth Doctor called urgently, a note of panic entering his tone, noticing what Jamie was doing, knowing that he needed to buy them some more time. Carefully, he stepped closer towards the pillar that the Second Hatter was leaning against as he continued speaking, "Now, that's why you Sontarans have no allies!" Jamie grasped the handle of his knife stuck inside his boot, getting ready…, "You can't be trusted!"

"We have no need of allies," Stike glared at him, oblivious to what was really happening, "Sontaran might is invincible!"

Jamie thrust the knife back into Stike's thigh, stabbing him, even through the thick armour, causing him to cry out in pain. The Sixth Doctor ran forward and pulled Jamie out of Stike's grip, before shoving the Sontaran into a wall.

"Run, Jamie!" he shouted, hurrying back over to the Second Hatter, and picking her up.

They run frantically back toward the passageway that they had entered through, just as Stike managed to stand, and started firing widely at them with his weapon, missing them as they escaped back into the dimly lit tunnel. They quickly reached the ladder, Jamie going first, reaching a hand down to help the Sixth Doctor climb up while carrying the unconscious Time Lady, both trying hard not to bump her head on anything.

Once they had finally reached the top, they dashed outside the ice house and into the courtyard. The Sixth Doctor paused, carefully looking around for any sign of someone, before hurrying across the courtyard and over to the houses front door, and into an large, tiled entrance hall, still listening closely for any sign of footsteps approaching.

The Second Doctor, having recovered from his little sleep, looked up at the sound of footsteps outside the small room that he had been wheeled into, just off the entrance hall, from what he could tell from looking out of the open doorway. He watched as a tall, blonde curly headed man in yellow, red pinstriped trousers and a white shirt covered by a brightly coloured, floral waistcoat past the doorway, and much to his surprise, he was carrying the Second Hatter in his arms. The man didn't notice him, too busy looking around as he past the door.

Another pair of footsteps followed close behind and Jamie appeared, looking completely fine. He came to a quick stop as he caught sight of the Second Doctor strapped to a wheelchair in a small room off from the entrance hall, breaking into a broad smile at the sight of him as the Second Doctor looked just as delighted and relieved.

"Doctor," Jamie breathed, stepping into the room, and over to him.

"Jamie!" the Second Doctor smiled happily at him, before quickly turning serious once more as Jamie pattered his shoulder. He frowned over towards the doorway, not liking the fact that another man had been carrying his Hatter, "There you are, Jamie…"

They both looked up as the Sixth Doctor doubled back and entered the room, pausing in the doorway to eye the Second Doctor with haughty expression. The Second Doctor returned the look, taking in the man's appearance, his eyes briefly running over the Second Hatter, wanting to make sure that she was okay.

The Sixth Doctor slowly walked towards him with a heavy sigh, almost sounding exasperated as he leaned closer towards him, "Snap!" he called.

"Snap!" the Second Doctor exclaimed in unison, realising just who the Sixth Doctor was. He felt much better about the Second Hatter being carried now, though, not completely.

They looked at each other for a long moment before the Sixth Doctor gave him an accusing look, "I've come a long way for you," he told him, annoyed as Jamie began untying the Second Doctor's restraints.

"Naturally," the Second Doctor sniffed, not looking very thankful for the rescue, "Don't expect any thanks," his eyes came to rest on the Second Hatter, looking concerned, "You did give her the antidote, didn't you?" he asked dubiously.

"Of course," the Sixth Doctor said sharply, giving him a quick glare, "They must have given her a more concentrated dose to keep her asleep longer, that's all".

"Hmm…" he hummed, still not looking entirely convinced.

As if on cue, the Second Hatter's eyes began flickering as she stirred. The Sixth Doctor gently placed her on the ground, not wishing to panic her should she awake to find herself in someone's arms. All three of them watched as she blurrily opened her eyes, looking very confused as she raised a hand to her face.

"I don't…" she began, her voice thick from sleep and lack of use as she narrowed her eyes. All she could make out was a blurry shape of a person leaning over her, but strangely, she didn't feel threated by them, as if she knew them somehow. She cleared her throat, "Where are my glasses?" she questioned, growing slightly panicked, "I can't see without them, I must have my glasses…"

"Shh, it's alright, Hatter," a man's voice that she didn't recognise answered, sounding quite soothing as she felt a hand tentatively touch her shoulder, "We'll sort that out later, just relax. You're safe".

She frowned at the shape and tried to sit up, stopping quickly as she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, "Where am I?" she asked, still feeling mildly panicked. She noticed two other shapes close by, one appearing to be sitting down in something, "I was…" she frowned, trying to remember, when it suddenly all came flooding back. The space station, the Doctor and Jamie, Dastari, the attack…

"Everything is alright, Hatter," the Second Doctor's voice came suddenly, and she immediately felt herself break into a relieved smile.

"Doctor, you're here?"

"Of course," he replied, sounding as if he was smiling, too, "I couldn't possibly let my best friend have all the fun, now, could I?"

She laughed slightly, feeling the panic subside. She still wasn't happy that she couldn't see more then blurry shapes and colours, but if the Second Doctor was here then she knew that he would make sure she was safe. He was annoyingly over protective of her, after all. But her laughter quickly died as she remembered Jamie, "Where's Jamie?" she frowned, worriedly.

One of the shapes moved closer to her, "Right here," Jamie's Scottish accent came, sounding pleased to see her.

"Oh, I'm so very glad that you are both here," she smiled broadly, hoping she was at least looking in the direction of their faces, before she focused her attention back to the stranger, who she guessed must have been kneeling beside her, "I must apologise, I don't believe we've meet before," she said to him, "You are?"

"The Doctor," the stranger informed her, making her blink, startled, most certainly not having expected that, "A future one, I'm in my Sixth regeneration now".

"Goodness," she breathed, wishing that she could see him. He had quite a haughty tone to his voice, even now when he was clearly trying to not frighten her, and from what she could make out he seemed to be dressed very colourfully with lots of yellow, "Things are worse than I had thought," she sighed tiredly, raising an eyebrow, "Is there any more of you around here?"

"No…" the Sixth Doctor hesitated slightly, "But your Fifth regeneration is here with me".

The Second Hatter's face fell, "Oh no, please tell me she's not like the other one?" she said warily, thinking about the time she meet her Third regeneration, "You know, the sarcastic, dark haired one who has absolutely no sense in fashion?"

The Sixth decided it would probably be unwise to point out that she wasn't exactly the best dressed Hatter either, "No, not that one," he assured her, adding, "But she does have brown hair".

She sighed again, almost resigned, "Well, I suppose I'll have to wait to serve judgment on her, then. After all, not everyone can pull off my sense of style," she remarked, adjusting the collar of her dress and reaching up toward her hat…her eyes widened when she was met with thin air, "What have they done with my hat?" she demanded at once.

"Probably the same thing as your glasses, Hatter," Jamie commented, sounding almost amused by her reaction.

"How dare they?" she exclaimed, outraged as she pulled herself back onto her feet, stumbling slightly, but the Sixth Doctor steadied her…or, at least she presumed it was him, "A Hatter without a hat isn't a Hatter at all!"

"I'm sure you have plenty of spares," the Second Doctor said soothingly, more then used to hearing her talk about her hats as if they were her children.

"It's not the same…"

Suddenly, something creaked outside, making the Second Hatter stop suddenly, listening.

"I think someone's coming," Jamie hissed urgently.

They froze, all listening as something else creaked outside.

"You wheel him," the Sixth Doctor told Jamie, nodding to the Second Doctor as he took the Second Hatter's hand, making her jump slightly in surprise, "I'll guide her."

Jamie quickly wheeled the Second Doctor into the entrance hall, while the Sixth Doctor led the Second Hatter after him, when they paused, looking over to the door as a grunting sound came from behind the door, "Too late!" he looked frantically over to the Sixth Doctor.

The Sixth Doctor looked around, trying to find somewhere to hide, "Upstairs," he turned to his past self, "Extemporise."

The Second Doctor let his head fall limply, pretending to still be asleep as the Sixth Doctor pulled the Time Lady along with him up the stairs, and out of sight. They peeked over the edge of the railing, watching as the male Androgum that the Sixth Doctor and Jamie had witness strapping the Second Doctor into the wheelchair earlier entered the hall, carrying Peri over his shoulder, appearing to be unconscious.

"Wake up, old Time Lord," the Androgum called to the Second Doctor as he past him, smiling broadly, very pleased with himself. Jamie moved to run back down the stairs to go after him, but the Sixth Doctor pulled him back with a stern look, "Supper will soon be served!" he laughed gleefully, walking through into another room.

The Sixth Doctor and Jamie exchanged a long look, both wondering just what had happened to the Fifth Hatter?

…..… **Countryside** ….…..…

The Fifth Hatter groaned as she slowly woke to find herself lying on her back, the top of her head pounding painfully as she tried blinking against the suns glare. She slowly sat up, wincing as a wave of dizziness came over her, making her feel slightly ill as she looked around. Shockeye had obviously chosen Peri to cook, which meant that he would probably return soon to collect her.

She reached up to touch the top of her head, her hat having fallen off at some point, and carefully let the tip of her fingers lightly brush over the spot that ached the most to find a raised lump. She quickly dropped her hand, closing her eyes against the sharp pain that shot through her head just from touching it.

She knew she couldn't stay sitting on the ground for very long, she needed to get back up to the house and try and save Peri, or at the very least try and find the Sixth Doctor and Jamie. She caught sight of her floppy hat sitting on the dirt beside her and picked it up, sighing heavily as she noticed a patch of dirt on the brim, but she shook her head and carefully put it on, wincing slightly as the top of the hat brushed against the lump.

Slowly, she climbed onto her feet, trying to ignore the dizziness and sickly feeling that it caused her as she tried to brush her hands and skirt clean of dirt, but it was little use. Her entire back was covered in dirt and bits of grass, it had even ended up caught in her hair, making the usually wavy hair now look slightly frizzy, luckily, the floppy brim of her hat helped to hide some of it.

Stumblingly slightly, she managed to make her way back up the hill and up towards the house, even managing to move faster as the dizziness faded. Eventually, she reached the gate into the courtyard and carefully hurried over to the main door, peeking inside, only to blink as she caught sight of the Second Doctor strapped to the wheelchair sitting in the middle of the entrance hall, appearing to be sleeping.

She moved into the room, cautiously looking around as she went, before frowning slightly as she neared the Second Doctor. It was a good act, had she not have known him as well as she did, she would have thought that he was sleeping, but his breathing wasn't quite a deep as it should have been.

"Almost fooled me," she remarked quietly, smirking as she noticed him tense, obviously not recognising her voice, "But as for someone who has known you for most of your life, you're going to have to do better than that".

His eye cracked up and he turned his head enough to see her, looking surprised, "You must be a future Hatter?" he said slowly, taking in her appearance. She was shorter than his Hatter, around 5'7 with wavy brown hair with a red tinge to it, but it looked mussed and frizzy under her large sun hat, and pale skin.

The Fifth Hatter smiled fondly at him, dimples forming in her cheeks, "It's good to see this version of you again," she told him.

"Hatter!" someone hissed down to them, making her look up to find the Sixth Doctor and Jamie leaning over the railing of the staircase, while her Second regeneration stood beside the Doctor, looking confused.

She pattered the Second Doctor's shoulder as she past him, hurrying over to the stairs and up them, joining the three.

"What happened?" the Sixth Doctor asked at once, running his eyes over her, concerned as he noticed the dirt covering her clothing.

"Peri and I had a bit of a run in with Shockeye," the Fifth Hatter informed them, sighing, "He knocked us out and took Peri back up here, I assume, to cook," she glanced at her Second regeneration, frowning at her, "She's very quiet".

"She's missing her glasses," Jamie cut in.

She turned back to the Second Hatter, "Ah, yes, of course. I forgot I used to wear glasses".

"You wouldn't have them still on you, would you?" the Second Hatter asked hopefully, squinting her eyes at her future self.

"Actually, I might," she said slowly, thinking about it, "My companion wears glasses, I believe she gave me her spare set in case she lost hers," she began patting down her skirt, reaching inside her pocket, searching around before she finally withdrew a black glasses case, and popped open the lid, "They might not work," she warned, grabbing the Second Hatter's hand and sitting the glass into her palm.

The Second Hatter slipped the black framed glasses on, almost poking herself in the eye as she did so, but luckily the glasses seemed to work. They weren't perfect, things weren't quite as clear and focused as they should have been, but at least she could now make out people and things around her without seeing blurry shapes.

"Oh, that's much better, thank you," the blonde Time Lady nodded, smiling in relief as she had the chance to see just what her future regeneration looked like. She eyed her slightly, not overly impressed with her clothing. She was shorter then she would have preferred, but she had pretty forest green eyes, "So, you're my future".

"One of them," the brunet replied, preparing herself.

"Hmm…" she hummed, still eyeing her, "That skirt and top don't match".

The Fifth Hatter rolled her eyes, "You just had to find something to complain about, don't you?"

"That's how this works, does it not? You meet a past or future regeneration, you critic something about them".

"In that case…" she narrowed her eyes at her, "You act like a child on a coffee binge".

The Second Hatter scoffed at her, "I've been quite good today in that regard, though, I have only been awake for a short time".

"Plenty of time to prove my statement right, then".

They're discussion was cut off by the sound of footsteps down stairs, and the four of them leaned carefully over the railing to see Dastari and the darked haired woman that had claimed to have owned the house when the Fifth Hatter and Peri had spoken with her, entered the entrance hall. They watched as the two stepped over to the Second Doctor, Dastari checked his pulse.

"Now that the Time Lords have located us, Dastari, we must move quickly," the woman said, a note of urgency in her voice.

"The operation cannot be hurried, Chessene," Dastari reminded her patently, looking up from the Second Doctor.

"I'm aware of that," Chessene waved him off slightly, purposely moving around the Second Doctor, casting him a thoughtful look as she brought her hands together, "But I have a contingency plan," she informed him, "It's been in my mind for some time".

He frowned at her, "What contingency plan?"

"I want you to turn this Time Lord into an Androgum," the Sixth Doctor and the two Hatter's looked at each other, horrified, "You could do that, I know," she smiled at Dastari.

"Well, if I had the genetic material…" he began thoughtfully, moving to stand around behind the Second Doctor's chair.

"Take it from Shockeye".

He blinked at her, looking surprised, "Shockeye?"

"I want you to make me a consort for me…" Chessene looked down to the Doctor, and even from above them, overlooking the scene, the Sixth Doctor and Hatters could see her face light up just thinking about it, "Leave him the power of time travel, leave the symbiotic nuclei within, but turn him into an Androgum, by blood and by instinct," the Fifth Hatter swallowed thickly, looking ill just thinking about it as Chessene turned back to Dastari, "How long would that take?"

The Second Doctor raised his head slightly, opening his eyes, completely horrified by everything he was hearing.

"Not long," Dastari answered after a moment of consideration, "Two simple operations. The first to implant the genetic material, and then a second operation to stabilise his condition".

The Second Doctor remembered that he was supposed to be asleep and quickly dropped his head, closing his eyes, forcing the horrified expression off his face with difficulty.

"Good," Chessene smiled, nodding to Dastari, while the Sixth Doctor, Jamie, and the Hatter's exchanged a very concerned look, "Then that is what we shall do," and with that, she turned and walked over to the door that Shockeye had disappeared into with Peri, "Shockeye!" she called, disappearing from sight.

A moment past and she returned, Shockeye following close behind her, and he and Dastari wheeled the Second Doctor over to the basement door, and out of sight.

…..…. **Cellar** ….…...….…

"No!" the Second Doctor shouted, trying to desperately struggle against his restraints as Dastari and Shockeye wheeled him closer towards the operating table. There was no point to pretending, not now, "You know what this precious pair have cooked up for you, don't you, Shockeye?" he looked around to the man.

"That's enough!" Dastari said sharply, grabbing his shoulder, giving it a shake.

"No!" he cried, panicking as they brought him to a stop by the edge of the bed, "I don't wanna be turned into an Androgum!"

Suddenly, a flash of light came from behind the Second Doctor's shoulder, while Dastari began undoing his bounds.

"Ah!" Shockeye yelled painfully, clutching at his chest as the light him, "Chessene!" and whirled around, collapsing onto the bed, unconscious.

…..… **Kitchen** ….….

Jamie and the Second Hatter stood by the kitchen door, looking out at the entrance hall in case anyone should come back up from the cellar, while the Fifth Hatter and Sixth Doctor hurried over to the middle of the room where a large table was with Peri lying on top of it, still unconscious, but otherwise unhurt.

The Fifth Hatter examined her quickly, checking her pulse and head, glancing back to the Sixth Doctor, "Try and find some water, that ought to wake her," she told him once she was finished.

He nodded and began looking around the room, trying to find something, when he noticed a small milk jug with water inside. He grabbed it, turning back around, and splashed some of it over Peri's face.

"Ugh!" she cried, jolting awake, her hand immediately flying up towards her face, trying to wipe the water away.

"Peri!" the Sixth Doctor quickly sat the jug back down on the kitchen bench, moving back to the table as the Fifth Hatter helped Peri sit up. He looked at, concerned, "Can you stand?" he asked her.

Peri blinked, looking very confused, "Ugh, my head," she groaned, scrunching up her face, "What happened?"

"Shh, don't worry about that now," the Fifth Hatter smiled gently at her, lightly pulling her off the table with the Sixth Doctor's help, and wrapping an arm around her back to help her stay upright, "Let's just say that we both got a lump on our heads," she looked at her worriedly, "Can you stand, Peri?"

"Yes, I…think so," she nodded slowly, still looking very confused.

The Second Hatter looked back around the kitchen door to them, "It's all clear," she informed them, casting Peri a curious look.

"Come on, then," the Sixth Doctor urged, guiding Peri towards the door with the Fifth Hatter following closely behind, "Let's get out of here".

They ran out through the entrance hall and back outside to the courtyard, hurrying out through the gate, looking back over their shoulders as they went, half expecting to get caught at any moment. They made a dash for some trees and bushes off to the side of the road leading into the courtyard, crouching down so that they were hidden.

"What now?" Jamie questioned at once, looking to the Time Lords, looking worried, "They've still got the Doctor".

" _And_ they're turning him into an Androgum!" the Sixth Doctor added, sounding alarmed as he exchanged a look with his Hatter.

"What a terrifying thought," the Fifth Hatter commented, shivering slightly as she tried picturing her best friend as an Androgum. It was simply to terrible, "I'm sorry, Doctor, but if you start developing a taste for human or Time Lady flesh, that's the end of our friendship. You thinking that coat is stylish, I can handle, but you wanting to eat me or our friends is simply too far".

The Second Hatter laughed, but quickly turned it into a cough as she realised that the Fifth Hatter was being perfectly serious, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

Jamie shook his head, trying hard not to smile, "How long will it take?" he asked them, growing serious.

"You heard Dastari, two operations," the Sixth Doctor answered, his eyes drifting over towards the house, lowering his voice, "I thought Stike would have acted by now," he sighed slightly.

"How?" Peri frowned at him, as both Hatter's looked at him curiously, too, wondering just what he meant.

"I mean, he has a functioning time machine," he explained, making the Fifth Hatter blink slightly in surprise, trying to figure out exactly what his plan was, "I would expect him to try and kill both Chessene and Dastari before he leaves, so _why_ isn't my plan working?"

Jamie blinked at him, seeming just as confused as the others, "Your plan?" he repeated.

He raised his eyebrows at him, his tone condescending, "Jamie, you don't think someone of Stike's build can sneak up behind me without my hearing him, do you?"

His eyes widened as the Hatter's looked in-between them, putting the pieces together on just what they had missed, "You knew he was there!" he exclaimed in realisation.

"That's why I said what I did," he nodded, smirking slightly as he glanced at the Hatter's, "None of it was strictly true…but he believed it because _I_ was talking to _you_ ".

"But the machine worked! I saw it".

"Oh yes," he agreed, his eyes twinkling, "It worked for me, just as it would work for the Hatter…"

"Or both of us, in this case," the Fifth Hatter cut in, casting her past self a quick look.

"Exactly," the Sixth Doctor pointed to her, turning back to Peri and Jamie, a sly look crossing his face, "But it won't work for him because…I have…" he reached inside his waistcoat pocket and withdrew a small circuit, holding it up for them to see.

"…the Briode Nebuliser," the Time Lords finished in unison, sharing a smile.

….…. **Cellar** …..…..….…..

The first thing the Second Doctor became aware of when he awoke, was that he was starving. Nothing else seemed to matter, not that fact that he was strapped to the operating bed again with his head covered by a white cloth, nor did it even seem to matter to him anymore what Chessene and Dastari had planned for him, food was the only thing he could think of.

He smiled to himself as he imagined consuming plats full of roasted meats, glasses of wine, and deserts piled high, all for him. All thoughts of what might have happened to the others vanished from his mind as food and eating seemed to become the only thing that mattered to him anymore.

Suddenly, the cloth was pulled back and he looked up, still smiling, to find Shockeye leaning over him, surprise written across his face as he took in the Second Doctor's appearance, the bushy red eyebrows and little warts that were scattered across his face.

"Capercailzies in brandy sauce," the Second Doctor remarked, almost licking his lips at the very thought.

"What?" Shockeye asked, frowning at him.

"With the stuffing of black pudding made of live pig's blood, herbs, and pepper!" he continued hungrily, slowly sitting up with Shockeye's help, "The breasts of the birds should be slit and studded with truffles".

Shockeye's widened greedily, pointing eagerly at him, "You know the cuisine of this planet?"

"Of course I do! I have eaten pressed duck at the Tour d'Argent," he broke into a wide smile, licking his lips, "They are fed only on corn, fruit pulp, and molasses. They're exquisite, Shockeye…" he trailed off slowly, frowning deeply as he suddenly realised that something wasn't quite right, "Why am I thinking of food?" he questioned, confused.

"Because you are now an Androgum!" he told him, and the Second Doctor nodded slowly as it all made sense. He looked at him eagerly once more, "Can you lead me to one of these eating places to sample the local dishes?"

"Of course I can," the Second Doctor agreed, sounding arrogant, before casting his eyes over Shockeye's clothing, "But you will need proper clothes…"

He looked down at himself, "Proper clothes?" he repeated thoughtfully.

"A collar," he went on, nodding, "A neck tie, at least".

"Oh," Shockeye sighed, looking concerned down at his own clothing, until his eyes lit up. He grinned broadly at the Second Doctor, "I know where there are clothes…" he said slyly.

The two of them exchanged excited smiles.

…..… **Outside the ice house** ….…

The Sixth Doctor, the two Hatter's, Jamie, and Peri watched quietly as the two Sontarans patrolled the grounds of the house, both of them carrying large guns in their hands. Dastari stepped out of the house, moving towards the courtyards gate, and beckoned them to come to him.

The Sixth Doctor smiled, exchanging a look with his Hatter, "Action, at last," he commented, very pleased as the Sontarans made their way over to Dastari.

Carefully, they edged along the fence line, keeping an eye of the Sontarans and Dastari as they moved closer towards the three, trying to get a better look.

"Stike, Varl, this way," Dastari was saying to the Sontarans, gesturing for them to follow him over to the ice house's closed door.

While he turned his back, Varl raised his gun, aiming it at Dastari's back, but Stike quickly pushed it back down, "Not yet," he whispered to him, and the Sixth Doctor and Hatter's could only just make it out from they're position, "Chessene first, she's more dangerous".

Varl nodded, following Stike over to Dastari, while the others watched from in-between the metal railing along top of the brick fence a short distance away.

"What is it, Dastari?" Stike asked as they reached him.

"The Time Lord has returned," Dastari told them, looking worried, keeping his voice low.

"Where is he?"

"He's entered the passage," he said at once, glancing at the ice house's door, "Chessene's waiting in the cellar," he turned back to them, gesturing to the door, "Now, if you go in this way, we have him trapped".

"Ooh, how curious," the Fifth Hatter murmured to the others, the corner of her mouth twitching as she glanced back to the others, "It would seem that we have a double-double cross going on".

The Sixth Doctor's eyes lit up, smiling, "Gets more interesting by the minute," he agreed, exchanging a look with her.

"Typical, really," the Second Hatter remarked softly, shaking her head.

The Sontarans looked at each other, nodding slightly as they moved closer to the ice house door, pulling it open, and disappearing inside. A moment past and Chessene walked out of the main house, holding two large, silver canisters and walked over to the ice house door, stepping inside.

A few minutes passed before Chessene emerged, empty handed and looking very pleased with herself, smiling smugly as she returned to the main house, forcing the group to duck out of sight as she walked past their hiding spot. Once she had entered the house, they stood and stepped around the fence, looking towards the front of the house.

"Well, looks like Chessene's won," Jamie commented, sighing slightly, already having guessed that whatever was in those canisters couldn't have been good for the Sontarans.

"Yeah," the Sixth Doctor nodded.

"It would appear so," the Fifth Hatter said warily, not entirely sure whether she was pleased or not. While she certainly didn't like Chesene's method in dealing with the Sontarans, it did help solve the problem with them hanging around, making things easier for them all.

"Doctor!" Peri suddenly whispered, grabbing the Fifth Hatter and Sixth Doctor's arms, catching their attention as she looked back through the courtyard gate to something, "Hatter!"

They followed her gaze and were startled to find the Second Doctor and Shockeye, both wearing top hats and matching frock coats, walking along with their arms linked together from another gate leading to the back of the house, completely oblivious to them watching. The Second Doctor said something to Shockeye as they headed off down the gravel road as the others stepped out of the courtyard gate, staring after them.

The Sixth Doctor put his hands on his hips, looking annoyed, "Now where are _they_ going?" he wondered aloud.

"And do you think they would let me borrow one of their hats?" the Second Hatter said thoughtfully, a touch of hopefulness in her tone, not appearing to be the slightest bit concerned by what was going on. Everyone looked at her, even the Fifth Hatter, who shook her head, crossed between amusement and exasperation. The blonde blinked, realising they were all looking at her, "Sorry," she gave them a sheepish smile, "Not really the time".

Jamie coughed, trying hard not to laugh as he looked back to the retreating forms of his Doctor and Shockeye, "They look quite pally," he frowned, pointing at them.

The Fifth Hatter grimaced, holding up a hand to shield her eyes against the sun's glare, "What a frightful thought, Jamie".

 _ **And the Hatter's have finally meet, I loved writing that scene with those two. They are just so much fun to write banter for, I just feel sorry for the Sixth Doctor. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 **Country road**

"Tell me," Shockeye began, his arm still interlocked with the Second Doctor as they made their way down the gravel road, "On this planet, do they ever eat their own?"

The Second Doctor looked thoughtful for a moment, "I believe in the Far Indies it has been known," he nodded before his eyes lit up eagerly, "But I remember a dish…shepherd's pie".

"'Shepherd's pie?'" he repeated greedily, growing excited as he looked across to him, "A shepherd?" he licked his lips, "Can't we walk quicker?"

They hurried their pace, turning a corner and disappearing as the Sixth Doctor, Fifth Hatter, Second Hatter, Jamie, and Peri ran down the road behind them, struggling to close the large gap, the harsh sun slowing the humans down.

Further down the road, Shockeye and the Second Doctor turned a corner to find a tarmac road just ahead, converging with their gravel road, surrounded by very tall trees, completely oblivious to the fact that they were being followed.

"Wait!" the Second Doctor called urgently, forcing Shockeye to stop, looking over towards the newer road, just as a small truck rounded a bend, and headed along the road towards them. He smiled slightly as an idea sparked, "There's a machine coming!"

He run up a small slope towards the side of the road, using one hand to keep his top hat on. He had the strangest feeling that the hat held a special meaning to him somehow…oh, of course, the Hatter. For a brief moment he felt a twang of concern for the blonde Time Lady, wondering what had happened to her, but any such thoughts soon vanished as he reached the edge of the road, holding his hands up and waving them around, trying to get the truck driver's attention.

The truck slowed down and the driver pulled over on the side of the road, making him grin broadly at himself, feeling quite smug that he had thought of such a thing. He removed his hat in greeting as the driver opened the door, standing on the edge of the truck's cabin to look over the door to the Doctor, asking something Spanish.

Shockeye suddenly snuck up behind the driver and hit the man in his back with a heavy tree branch, watching with a sickening smile as the driver cried out in pain and surprise, jolting backwards as he fell out of the truck's cabin and rolled down the small slope by the road, coming to a stop with his face pressed into the dirt.

He turned to the Second Doctor, excitedly grabbing his shoulder, "Can you drive this machine?" he asked quickly.

"Of course I can!" the Second Doctor replied, still smiling broadly, completely unfazed by what he had just witnessed Shockeye do to the driver, "Get in, my friend," he lightly pushed him around towards the other side of the truck, moving to climb into the driver's seat, throwing his hat into the cabin in the process, "We shall be in Seville in five minutes!" he announced, slamming his door shut as Shockeye climbed into the other side.

The Sixth Doctor, the Hatter's, Jamie, and Peri arrived just in time to see the truck driving off down the road, stopping short when they came across the driver lying by the side of the road. The Fifth Hatter hurried forward, kneeling beside the man, checking his pulse as the Second Hatter looked down at him worriedly.

The Fifth Hatter swallowed, looking back up to them, "He's dead," she said grimly, standing as the Second Hatter closed her eyes sadly. She looked back down to the man, "I would say blunt force trauma to his back, which would certainly have been enough to kill him with an Androgums strength".

Jamie paled, "I can't believe that was my Doctor just…just standing there, letting a man get killed!" he exclaimed, horrified as he pointed down to the man.

"He's not himself at the moment, though, Jamie," the Second Hatter tried to calm him, struggling to hold back her own horror at the thought. She could never imagine her Doctor, or really any of his past or future regenerations just letting an innocent person die without trying to help them.

"She's right," the Sixth Doctor nodded to the Second Hatter, looking grim, "I'm afraid he's eighty percent Adrogum," he sighed heavily, shaking his head, "By the time the effect reaches me it will be close to a hundred percent"

Peri's head snapped around to look at him, her eyes widening, "Reaches you?" she said panicky, glancing at the Fifth Hatter, who could only grimace at the thought.

"And it _will_ , unless we can save him," he reached up to touch his forehead, frowning deeply as both Hatter's looked at him, very concerned, "I'm already beginning to feel…changes," he admitted, giving himself a shake.

"Eh?" Jamie blinked at him, growing alarmed, "Well, come on, then!"

"Jamie's right," the Fifth Hatter agreed, eyeing the Sixth Doctor closely, taking his hand, "We need to fix this, and quickly".

And with that, she took off after the truck, pulling the Sixth Doctor along with her as the others followed. Peri sighed heavily, already feeling exhausted from the heat and running, but Jamie urged her forward, just as the truck rounded a corner, the five of them in pursuit.

…. **Seville square** ….…..….

After a twenty minute jog, the five of them finally reached the city and set to work trying to locate the Second Doctor and Shockeye, having lost the truck that they had stolen long before reaching the city. Church bells rang in the distance as the five of them walked around a large fountain in the middle of the town square outside what appeared to be a very large stone cathedral, looking around as they went for any sign of the two, knowing that they shouldn't be too hard to spot with how they were dressed.

They paused by the fountain as Jamie sighed tiredly, "Ah, look, we'll never find 'em here," he remarked, looking around.

"It's too big," Peri agreed tiredly.

The Sixth Doctor ignored them both, scanning the area, "Look!" he suddenly called, pointing.

They followed his gaze across the square to see the truck that Shockeye and the Second Doctor had stolen parked across the road. They hurried over to it and began examining it closely, trying to find any clue to where they might have disappeared to.

The Fifth Hatter placed a hand on the bonnet, feeling it still warm to the touch, "It's still very warm," she commented, looking back to the others, before turning her attention back to the street around them, frowning, "They can't be too far ahead of us, only a few minutes, at the most".

The Doctor nodded, taking the Fifth Hatter's hand, "This way, I think," he started to lead them off down a street.

Peri gave him a confused look, "How do you know?" she asked, curious.

They paused, looking back to her as he rolled his eyes slightly, "Peri, this is _me_ we're following," he reminded her, sounding mildly exasperated.

"Just go with it, Peri," the Fifth Hatter smiled at her, casting the Second Hatter a quick look, "Believe me, we know better than anyone just what our past selves are most likely to get up to".

"Hey!" the Second Hatter exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at her future self, looking offended, "I resent that!"

She sighed heavily, rolling her eyes, "Write a formal complaint and send it to me, you're very good at doing that, as I recall".

"Well, _maybe_ I will!"

"Good! Looking forward to it!"

The Sixth Doctor ran a hand down his face, shaking his head at them, "If you are quite finished?" he cut in, raising his voice slightly, looking between them both. Goodness, was this what it was like when his Third and Second regenerations were in the same room together?

Both women huffed, looking annoyed, but they reluctantly nodded as they set off down the street, walking past small houses and shops, keeping their eyes out as they went for any sign of the Second Doctor and Shockeye.

"I still don't understand it," Jamie said after a while, looking very troubled.

"What?" the Sixth Doctor glanced over his shoulder to him.

"Well, you and the Doctor…" he continued, and the Time Lords paused, giving him their full attention, "Well, _my_ Doctor are the _same_ person…" he glanced at the two Hatter's, looking between them, "And so are you two".

"Of course we're the same people," the Fifth Hatter nodded, pausing as she thought about it, "Just…we're slightly different," she shrugged, glancing at her Second regenerations, "Each regeneration tends to bring out different personality traits in stronger and lesser lights, for instance, my Third regeneration was very sarcastic while my First regeneration was could be very naïve, and my Second…" the Second Hatter grinned excitedly, holding up a hand, "…was very childlike. Do you see what I mean?" she raised an eyebrow at Jamie and Peri, "We stay the same, really, it's just that certain traits might become a bit more prominent".

"And you only need to see how my sartorial taste has improved, for instance," the Sixth Doctor added, sounding smug as he waved a hand down his front.

The two Hatter's exchanged a quick look, quickly looking away from each other before they burst out laughing. The Second Hatter had only seen this version of the Doctor for a short period of time and even she had to admit that his taste in clothing was nothing like she had ever seen before.

Peri frowned, still seeming confused, "But how can two of you be together at the same point of space and time?" she asked, looking back and forth between the three Time Lords.

The Sixth Doctor shrugged slightly, exchanging a look with the Hatter's, "When you travel around as much as we do, it's almost inevitable that you'll run into yourself at some point," he replied, "Come on".

And with that, he turned and headed off down the street, forcing the others to follow.

….… **Meanwhile, somewhere else in the city** …..…..…

The Second Doctor and Shockeye strolled down a street, arms still interlocked as they went, hardly seeming to be bothered by the heat of the day, even in their heavy coats and top hats as they reached a plaza with a large fountain tricklingly away in the middle of the plaza.

"Personally, I have never seen the necessity for starting a meal with a…" Shockeye paused, glancing across to the Doctor beside him, "What was your word?"

"Hors d'oeuvres," the Second Doctor answered.

"Quite unnecessary, in my opinion," he nodded, walking over to the fountain, taking a seat on the edge of it beside the Second Doctor, "Eight, or nine, main dishes are quite enough in my opinion," he reached behind him and into the fountain, scooping up some of the water, using it to wash his face.

"But on this planet it is the custom," the Second Doctor tried to explain to him, "All the greatest chefs agree. Carema, Brillat Savaran, the noble Escoffier, they all agree that a meal should begin with a light dish, something to bring _relish_ to the appetite," Shockeye sat back down beside him, listening carefully to every word he said, "Pate du foie gras de Strasburg on croute, for instance, or a serving of Beylon oysters," Shockeye moaned longing, just thinking about the dishes as he continued, "Even a, even a light salad with…artichoke hearts and country ham will suffice, it gets the _digestive juices_ _flowing_!"

Shockeye looked at him eagerly, licking his lips hungrily, "How much further is this place?"

"It's just around the corner, if I remember rightly," he told him, standing as the two of them linked arms, setting off down the street.

…..…. **A narrow street** ….….

The Sixth Doctor, the two Hatter's, Jamie, and Peri walked down a narrow back street, still searching as they looked around, when the Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter caught sight of Chessene and Dastari walk into the street up ahead of them, pausing as they seemed to be looking around, too.

The Fifth Hatter grabbed her past selves arm, dragging her into a doorway, while Jamie, Peri, and the Sixth Doctor did the same. The Doctor motioned to Peri and Jamie to stay silent as they waited for a moment, listening for any approaching footsteps, but when none came, they slowly stepped out of their hiding place and jogged down the street, stopping short as they rounded a corner to see Chessene and Dastari outside a restaurant with people sitting outside at tables. Carefully, they peered around the corner of the building, watching them.

The Fifth Hatter suddenly gasped, her eyes widening in realisation, "Oh, we are so slow!" she shook her head at herself, looking at the others, "The restaurants, they're checking the restaurants!"

The Second Hatter paused, thinking about it, before it hit her, "Oh!" she breathed, nodding.

The Sixth Doctor sighed slightly, glancing over towards the restaurant, "Something we should have thought of a long while ago," he remarked, giving the Fifth Hatter a small smile, "Nicely done".

She grinned at him, winking, "Thank you, sweetheart".

He looked back to Jamie and Peri, "Come on," he said to them, waving a finger, "Let's find them before Chessene does".

They followed after him as he hurried down the next street before Dastari or Chessene could return and see them.

…. **Las Cadenas restaurant** …

The Second Doctor led Shockeye into a small restaurant with a sign reading 'Las Cadenas' placed outside the front of the building. As they entered, he cast his eyes around the room, taking in the small space that had tables scattered around the room, most taken up with couples eating their lunch.

He removed his top hat in greeting as he approached a pretty, dark haired Spanish woman that stood at the reservation desk by the main door, giving her friendly smile, while Shockeye looked around the room curiously. The woman looked up, blinking slightly surprise as she noticed what they were wearing, but the Second Doctor hardly seemed to notice her reaction.

A blonde haired man in a black tuxedo walked over to them, "Welcome to Las Cadenas, senors," he welcomed them with a British accent, giving them a bright smile as his eyes drifted over their clothing, "Oh, how delightful to have some gentlemen of the 'old school,'" he commented, managing to cover up his own surprise of their outfits, chuckling slightly, "Er…may I enquire if you have a booking?" he asked.

"Booking?" Shockeye repeated, frowning at him deeply, "I want food!"

The man nodded, still giving them a bright smile, "No reservation," he glanced quickly over to the Spanish woman and back to them, "Well, come this way," he held out a hand and turned, leading them further into the restaurant, weaving through tables and seated guests, "Fortunately, I have an excellent table for you," he told them over his shoulder.

The man led them through the back of the restaurant, stepping through an archway as they did so, they reached a table with two seats at either end of the table, the Second Doctor taking one seat while Shockeye sniffed the air, narrowing his eyes as he turned to the man, "Do you serve humans here?" he questioned quietly.

"Most of the time, sir," the man replied, and Shockeye moaned greedily, sitting down on his chair. The man laughed slightly, thinking he was joking, leaning towards them, "Yes, I think I can venture say that most of our customers are certainly human, sir".

Shockeye suddenly grabbed his hand, glaring at him angrily, "I mean human _meat_ , you fawning imbecile!" he snapped.

The man jumped slightly, "No, sir," he shook his head, his tone polite despite the situation, "I'm afraid the _nouvelle cuisine_ has not yet penetrated this establishment," his mouth twitched slightly, quite pleased with his own little joke as Shockeye released him, snapping his head around to look at the Second Doctor, very disappointed by the information. The man looked across to a waiter serving a table a short distance away, "Juan?"

….… **Streets of Seville** ….…..…..

Peri stepped out of the doorway of a large, yellow, four story hotel that she had been searching and onto the street, heading off down the street and into a narrow side street, meeting up with Jamie and the Sixth Doctor as they stepped out from another restaurant.

"No luck?" the Sixth Doctor asked as she jogged to catch up to them.

"No," she sighed heavily, shaking her head, "Just a load of tourists eating paella and chips".

"No, didn't look the sort of place," he nodded, not looking surprised, "They'd have gone for somewhere more elaborate".

The Fifth and Second Hatter rounded the corner, hurrying over to them as they caught sight of the three of them, "Any luck?" the brunet Time Lady questioned, looking at them hopefully.

"No," Peri and Jamie said.

"What about you two?" the Sixth Doctor turned to them.

"Well, I think I found the perfect place to take Max and Alice," the Second Hatter began rambling, looking quite excited as the Fifth Hatter ran a hand down her face, looking exasperated, "They would just love that restaurant, nice low lighting, that's supposed to be romantic, yes?" she looked at the others, unsure.

"He's not asking if we found any good restaurant," the Fifth Hatter groaned, rolling her eyes at her past self, "He's asking if we found the Second Doctor, you idiot".

"You do relies you just called yourself an idiot, don't you?"

"Believe me, it was worth it," she said dryly.

The Second Hatter huffed, crossing her arms across her chest, "Resorting to name calling doesn't suit us".

"When it's directed towards you it just might be".

"Ladies!" the Sixth Doctor cut in loudly, holding up a hand as the Second Hatter stepped closer to her future self, "I assume that this means you didn't find me…him?" he asked, quickly correcting himself.

"Sadly," the Fifth Hatter nodded tiredly.

He sighed heavily, looking resigned, "Let's go and…" he trailed off suddenly as his gaze became fixed on something ahead of them, transfixed, and an odd smile crossed his face.

Jamie frowned at him, wondering why he had stopped talking, "What?"

"Hmm," he hummed, still staring with the same strange smile as the others looked at him curiously, the Hatter's exchanging a slightly concerned look, "There's a cat," his smile grew wider.

They followed his gaze to see a cat in the street a short distance up from them, taking no notice of them as its tail wiped back and forth.

Peri smiled slightly bemused at the Sixth Doctor, "What about it?" she asked, trying to work out just what his point was, or why he had suddenly become so interested in an ordinary Earth cat?

"Well…" the Sixth Doctor licked his lips hungrily, his eyes still glued to the cat as he leaned closer to them, while the Hatter's eyed him, growing even more alarmed by his behaviour. He smiled greedily down at the cat, "They say there's more than one way to cook a cat…" he leaned down towards the cat, holding out a hand towards it as Jamie and Peri exchanged confused looks, "Here, pussy, pussy, puss-puss!" he called to it in a cooing voice, "Here, little puss!"

The cat, sensing danger, run away from them and off down the street, disappearing around a corner as the Fifth Hatter sighed in relief, very glad she wouldn't have to witness the Sixth Doctor try and capture a poor cat.

Peri frowned at the Doctor, putting a hand on his shoulder as she crouched beside him, "Doctor, what are you doing?" she questioned, confused.

"They can make quite good eating!" he told them, looking off in the direction that the cat had gone, looking disappointed, "Small mammals are quite flavoursome when baked!"

"What are you saying?" she stared at him, even more confused, "I don't understand…"

A look of horrified realisation crossed the Sixth Doctor's face as he looked back up to the Hatter's, "I knew it would happened," he breathed slowly, standing as the Hatter's nodded at him, both still watching him warily. He quickly reached up to his forehead, rubbing it as he tried to give himself a sharp shake, "I'm turning into an Androgum!"

Peri stood, too, her eyes widening as the Fifth Hatter pattered his back comfortingly, "You can't!" she exclaimed, panicking slightly.

"You're not an Androgum, you're a Time Lord!" Jamie tried to tell him, stepping closer to him as the Sixth Doctor continued to rub his forehead, "Pull yourself together, Doctor!"

"Exactly!" the Fifth Hatter added hurriedly, watching the Sixth Doctor, trying hard to hide her own concern with a comforting look. It was much harder to do when it was the Doctor she was trying to comfort, "You're a Time Lord, one of the most boring and least adventures races in the Universe!" the Sixth Doctor began nodding slowly as she went on, her voice growing stronger, "You are Lord Doctor of the House Lungbarrow, you are my best friend, and you _can_ beat this!"

"Yes…" the Sixth Doctor mumbled, breathing heaver then normal as he reached forward and lightly cupped the Fifth Hatter's cheek, trying to steady himself, "Yes, that's right…" his voice grew determined, "I'm a Time Lord".

He dropped his hand from the Hatter's face and hurried past them, running over to where a fountain was trickling in the middle of plaza just ahead of them. Peri and Jamie exchanged an exasperated look, following after him with the Time Lady's. They watched as he ducked his head into the fountain, resting his head in the water for a moment, breathing loudly before lifting his head, giving his damp, curly hair a shake.

Jamie watched him, slightly nervously, "Are ya better now?" he asked.

"Yes…" he said slowly, frowning slightly as he looked up to the Fifth Hatter, "Yes…yes, I'm all right," she smiled broadly at him as the Second Hatter looked relieved, but his frown grew deeper as he continued, "For the moment," he finished grimly, making them lose their smiles.

And with that worrying thought in mind, they set off down another narrow street, walking down it and turning into a tunnelled walkway. They headed down it, only to stop short when they caught sight of Chessene and Dastari walking past the other end, forcing them to move back against the wall of the tunnel, hoping to hid in the shadows.

They watched tensely as Chessene and Dastari paused at the entrance of the tunnel, Chessene pointed across to something in the distance, before going on, completely oblivious to being watched.

The Sixth Doctor looked back to the others, "They've covered that way…" he nodded over to the street that Chessene and Dastari had disappeared down, "So we'll go this".

They turned back around and walked back the way they had just come, hurrying down a different street.

… **Las Cadenas restaurant** ….…..

The Second Doctor sighed heavily, leaning back against his chair, while Shockeye continued to eat everything he could reach across from him. He had never eaten nor drunk so much in his entire life. He was amazed, really. Even his trousers and shirt, both of which having once been slightly too big for him felt tight and uncomfortable now after consuming several very large plates of food and a few bottles of wine, but even still, Shockeye, who had managed to eat more than he had, was still eating as if he had been starved. A part of him wasn't surprised, but another, much smaller part of him felt mildly disgusted just by how much food they had managed to consume.

He reached inside his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief, pressing it against his mouth, just as the fair haired man that had shown them to their table walked over them, holding a piece of paper in his hands, "I trust everything was to your satisfaction, gentlemen?" the man smiled at them, looking between them.

"Oh, tolerable, tolerable," Shockeye nodded, pulling meat off a bone, pleased with his meal despite his initial disappointment of the lack of human meat.

The man continued to smile at them, "May I say what a pleasure it has been to see two such…dedicated trenchermen, enjoying their food," his smile dimmed slightly as he held out the piece of paper towards them, growing more serious, "Unfortunately the reckoning is rather high…"

Shockeye took the paper, frowning down at in confusion, "What is this?" he asked, looking back up to the man.

"Well, it's the amount you owe, sir," he informed him.

He looked back down the paper, still very confused as he looked across to the Second Doctor, holding it out for him to see, "Do you understand this?"

The Second Doctor dapped at the corners of his mouth before lowering the handkerchief, "He is asking for _money_ ," he told him.

Still seeming confused, he glanced back to the paper, "Money?"

"Tokens of exchange," the Second Doctor clarified warily.

Shockeye turned back to the man, holding the paper out to him, "This is our tally?" he questioned, still trying to work out just what the other man expected.

"Yes, sir," the man replied, nodding with a quick glance at the Second Doctor.

"Ah," Shockeye sat the paper down the table top, reaching inside his coat pocket, and withdrew a single bank note, holding it out towards the man, "Here".

"Keep the change," the Second Doctor added, waving a lazy hand at the man.

The man took the note, frowning down at it, puzzled, "I'm sorry, sir…" he turned back to Shockeye, his friendly air starting to waver for the first time since they had entered the restaurant, "I mean, I can see you're a wit as well as a _bon vivant_ , but this…" he remarked, shaking his head at the note in his hand, "….whatever it is, is not acceptable," he placed the note back down on the table, his voice stern.

Shockeye stared at him, surprise crossing his face before quickly being replaced by anger, "That is a twenty Narg note!" he exclaimed, waving his hands around, "You can change that anywhere in the Nine Planets!"

The man shook his head again, his smile tense, "Well, it's not acceptable here, sir".

The Second Doctor sighed, feeling suddenly very tired, and let himself slump onto the table before him, resting his head against the surface, slowly feeling himself drifting off as the man walked away and Shockeye went back his food, huffing in annoyance.

…. **Outside Las Cadenas restaurant** …

The Sixth Doctor, the Hatter's, Peri, and Jamie rounded a corner and stepped into another street, pausing as they looked around.

"Las Cadenas," Peri suddenly said, pointing across to where a sign was hanging over the doorway of a building a short distance behind them, recognising the name.

The others followed her gaze, the Time Lady's both feeling quite hopeful that this time they might have found the right place. The Second Hatter was feeling quite warm from walking around in her tights and long sleeved, woollen dress, while the Fifth Hatter was quickly growing frustrated with not finding the Second Doctor. He certainly knew how to make things hard for them.

The Sixth Doctor turned back to Peri, "Las Ca _de_ nas," he corrected her, using his fingers to emphasise the word.

Peri rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed as the Fifth Hatter shook her head at him, "Not everyone is as gifted with languages as you are, sweetheart," she reminded him, having a feeling she was going to regret saying that. It wasn't as if his ego needed anymore inflating.

As she had expected, he smiled smugly at her and his eyes twinkled, "A pity," he commented, not sounding as if he really felt that it was.

Peri cleared her throat, seeing the Fifth Hatter narrow her eyes at him. She had quickly started picking up on the signs of when the Hatter and the Doctor were about to start bickering, and she knew very well that it was best to intervene before it started, otherwise they would just end up with a annoyed Time Lady and sulking Doctor, "Well, isn't it where Oscar worked?" she asked hurriedly.

"Aye, I think that was the name," Jamie agreed, nodding at her, sensing the same thing that Peri had about the Time Lords. He sighed slightly, "Mind you, there seems to be more places to eat in this town than you'd find fleas on a dog".

"A dog?" the Sixth Doctor's head snapped up eagerly, fixing Jamie with a very intent look, "Where?"

The Fifth Hatter eyed him worriedly, exchanging a quick look with her past self, "Come along, Doctor," she said firmly, taking his arm, "We have more important things to be doing".

She began to drag him over towards the restaurant, the others following close behind them, just as a loud woman's scream rang out from inside the restaurant, sounding horrified. They quickly flung the doors open and ran inside, narrowly avoiding colliding with Shockeye, who hardly seemed to even notice them as they dashed further back into the restaurant, only to stop short as they caught sight of Oscar leaning weakly back in a chair, looking shocked and pained as blood started staining the front of his white shirt.

The Time Lords hurried forward, barely noticing the Second Doctor slumped over a table close to them, appearing to be fast sleep, while the other guests around them watched the scene, stunned. Anita was talking to someone frantically on the phone, looking very pale and shaken.

"Oscar!" Peri cried, her eyes widening in alarm as she noticed the blood.

The Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter knelt in front of Oscar, the brunet taking his hand, trying to comfort him as the Second Hatter hung back slightly, realising that they had clearly meet the man before and not wishing to get in their way.

"What happened?" the Sixth Doctor asked urgently.

"Oh, officers," Oscar said weakly, "Promptly on the scene, as always".

The Fifth Hatter gave him a comforting smile, "I'm just going to take a quick look, okay?" she told him, carefully unbuttoning a couple of the buttons on his shirt.

"Ridiculous thing to happen…" he grimaced painfully, "Dissatisfied customers usually just don't leave a tip".

The Time Lady gently pulled his shirt back slightly to see the wound. A very deep, clean cut had been made in the middle of his stomach, and as she watched more blood trickled out of it. She swallowed grimly, shaking her head slightly at the Sixth Doctor, knowing that there was nothing more either of them could do without proper equipment and unless that got to them soon, he wasn't going to make it.

Peri looked over to the Time Lords as Jamie, catching sight of his Doctor, jogged over to make sure he was okay, "Doctor…Hatter?" she questioned, her voice sounding very quiet she noticed their expressions.

Anita hurried over to them, "You're going to be alright, Oscar," she assured him, taking his hand, holding it tightly as she tried to give him a smile, "I phoned for the ambulance and the Worthy of Seville".

"No, no," Oscar shook his head, starting to have trouble breathing. The Fifth Hatter stood and moved back, giving the two of them more room, "I'm afraid this is Botcherby's last curtain call".

"Oh, no," she breathed, tears brimming in her eyes.

"No one will ever see my definitive Hamlet now".

"We will!" Peri said quickly, trying to give him a bright smile through her own tears. The Fifth Hatter smiled sadly and nodded in agreement, even though she knew that they wouldn't. It was already too late, the ambulance wouldn't reach them in time, "We'll all be there on the first night, Oscar," she promised.

"Yes," Anita added tearfully, gripping his hand tighter.

Oscar looked back to them, "'To die…to sleep,'" he whispered, "'To sleep, perchance to dream…'" his voice grew louder and more panicked, "Where are you, Anita?" he called.

Anita grasped his hand tighter, holding it closer towards her chest as she moved closer to him, "I'm here!" she replied at once.

"Please…take care of my beautiful moths," he murmured, his mouth twitching, when his eyes widened and his head slump back against the chair, going limp as he died. Anita started sobbing, still holding his hand as Peri looked unsure what she do or say, upset.

The Fifth Hatter hung her head sadly as the Sixth Doctor took her hand, giving it a squiz, "'Good night, sweet prince,'" he remarked grimly.

Jamie hurried back over to them, "Doctor, Hatter!" he grabbed their shoulders, catching their attention as he looked back over towards the Second Doctor, the Second Hatter leaning over him, "Just look at the Doctor!" he told them, pointing over to him, "His face!"

They stepped over to them, looking down at the Second Doctor, and watched as the bright red, bushy eyebrows faded, replaced with his own and the warts disappeared, returning him back to his original appearance, no sign of ever having been almost turned into an Androgum, much to their relief.

"Oh, thank goodness," the Second Hatter breathed, breaking into a broad smile.

The Sixth Doctor grabbed his past selves shoulder and pulled him upright, just as the Second Doctor slowly blinked awake. He moved around to stand in front of him, giving him a stern look, "Can you walk?" he asked.

"Walk?" the Second Doctor repeated, frowning at him, still seeming quite groggy, "Of course I can walk".

"Right," he nodded, not looking entirely convinced. He moved forward and wrapped his arms around the Second Doctor's middle, struggling to haul him up as the two Hatter's tried to help, "Come on," he grunted slightly, managing to pull him up right and back onto his own feet, giving him a narrowed eyed look of annoyance.

"Someone certainly enjoyed themselves," the Second Hatter sighed, shaking her head at just how heavy the Second Doctor was as she wrapped an arm around his back. Even his trousers and shirt appeared to be tight on him. She was almost impressed.

"A little _too_ much, I think," the Fifth Hatter grumbled, casting the man a small frown as she straightened her hat.

The Sixth Doctor couldn't help agreeing with the Fifth Hatter, but he gave himself a shake as he focused on the task at hand. He fixed the Second Doctor with a serious look, grabbing his hand, "I am a police officer, sir," he announced, casting a quick look around at the other dinners, trying to drag the Second Doctor towards the door, "Follow me".

"What is this?' the Second Doctor demanded indignantly.

"Anything you do say…" he continued, pulling him along, the Second Hatter trying very hard not to laugh the more worked up the Second Doctor got.

"Who do you think you are?" he glared at the Sixth Doctor.

"May be used in evidence against you…"

The three of them disappeared out the door, while the Fifth Hatter stepped over to Peri, Jamie, and Anita, who was still crying over Oscar. She gave them an apologetic look, "We need to go," she told Jamie and Peri quietly.

Jamie nodded, and hurried after his Time Lords and the Sixth Doctor, while Peri turned back to Anita, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"I'm very sorry," the Fifth Hatter said sadly to Anita, also grasping her shoulder, "Truly".

"Thank you," Anita swallowed thickly through her tears, her attention going back to Oscar.

The Fifth Hatter and Peri exchanged a grim look before following after the others, still able to hear the two Doctor's shouting.

….….. **Outside the restaurant, moments before** ….….

The Sixth Doctor dragged the Second Doctor outside into the bright sun, "Now you come with me!" he continued to call, feeling slightly amused, knowing just how annoyed he was making his past self.

"How dare you?" the Second Doctor snapped angrily, stopping short and slapping the other man's hands off him, managing to break his hold. The Second Hatter covered her mouth quickly, shaking with barely supressed laughter at the scene, "Let go of me!"

The Sixth Doctor spun around to face him, just as Jamie joined them, "This way!" he said firmly, pointing off down the street.

"No!" he narrowed his eyes at him, "This way!" and he pointed off to the opposite direction.

The other Doctor waved an accusing finger in the Second Doctor's face, "Now, look, _you_ got me into this mess…!"

"Would you two stop bickering?" the Fifth Hatter cut in, giving them both an annoyed look as she and Peri stepped outside. She shot the Second Hatter a look, noticing her standing there with her mouth covered and shaking shoulders, "And your giggling isn't helping".

"You would have giggled to if you had witnessed my Doctor slapping at yours," the Second Hatter replied, uncovering her mouth, still looking highly amused.

Peri sighed heavily, still looking upset, "We'll go this way," she decided, pointing off in the direction that the Sixth Doctor had suggested.

The Sixth Doctor gave the Second Doctor one last glare, before they began walking off down the street, making their way through an archway with an open gate…

"No," Chessene's voice rang out behind them, making them whirl back around to find her and Dastari standing before them. She smirked at them as she aimed a gun at them, "You'll come this way. We have some unfinished business to attend to," she informed them.

The Second Doctor held up his hands in surrounded, high above his head, and the others quickly followed suit. The Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Hatter exchanged wary looks as Chessene made a dramatic sweeping gesture down the street behind her. The Sixth Doctor gave Peri an accusing look, as if it was all her fault that they had been caught, while they were forced to walk down the street at gun point.

 _ **I apologise for not updating last week. My youngest cat was hit and killed by a truck last Thursday, so I really haven't been in the writing mood lately. Onto a brighter note, we only have two more chapters left of this story and next chapter was possibly my favourite chapter to write of this entire story. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **Entrance hall**_

Dastari and Chessene forced them all to walk through the streets of the city and back to the house, Dastari in the lead, while Chessene walked behind them with her gun aimed at their backs. They made their way back through the gates leading into the courtyard and up the set of steps to the main door, walking inside the entrance hall, only to find that the place was in a complete shambles. Glass had been shattered all across the floor, doors had been knocked off their hinges, and furniture had been tossed around on the floor. The entire place look like a bomb had gone off close by.

"Well, this is…lovely," the Fifth Hatter remarked, taking it all in with a faintly amused air, glancing at Dastari and Chessene, both of whom seeming as surprised by the mess as they were.

"All the broken glass does let a nice breeze in, though," the Second Hatter commented, the corner of her mouth twitching as she shared a look with her future self.

The Second Doctor grimaced slightly, casting his eyes around the place as he adjusted his coat, "Oh, my word, what a mess!"

"Hmm," the Sixth Doctor nodded, giving the Time Lady's a quick smile before turning to Dastari and Chessene, "I think, perhaps Dastari, you ought to sack your _Chatelaine_ ".

Chessene narrowed her eyes at him, aiming her gun at him, "Shockeye!" she called, and Shockeye stepped into the room, holding something in his hand, having changed out the frock coat.

"Yes?" Shockeye asked.

She frowned at him, "What has happened here?" she questioned, waving a hand around at the broken glass and furniture scattered everywhere.

"It seems that Group Marshall Stike vaporised his spaceship…and himself," he told them, not seeming overly concerned, "I found this," and he held up the object in his hand, which turned out to be a severed, lower Sontaran leg that was still covered in black armour and bright green blood.

The Fifth Hatter grimaced, while the Second Hatter made a face and looked away from the leg. She had a feeling it was the green blood that just made it all the more worse.

"So he survived the Coronic Acid?" Dastari said, looking around Shockeye to Chessene.

"Obviously," Chessene replied, a short edge to her tone as she looked back to the Time Lords, Jamie, and Peri, "Down to the cells," she handed the gun to Shockeye, who started waving it at them to follow her as she began walking over to the cellar door, glancing back over her shoulder to them, "You know the way, I think".

Reluctantly, they did as they were told and followed after her as she opened a door, making her way down a set of steps and into the cellar with Dastari, while Shockeye walked behind them with the gun aimed at their backs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they made their way over to the Kartz-Reimer modal, the door having been left open. Dastari and Chessene began examining it closely, frowning at it.

"The control box has been moved," Chessene said to Dastari, looking worried as he moved inside the module, taking a closer look inside at the controls, "Is it damaged?" she questioned.

Dastari continued to examine the module carefully as the Fifth Hatter glanced at the Sixth Doctor, who had a faint smile of his face, almost as if he was trying not to laugh. He caught her eye and gave her a wink, making her even more curious as to just what he had done.

"The Briode Nebuliser's missing," Dastari informed Chessene after a moment, his eyes widening slightly, and growing even more panicked that such a crucial piece of equipment was gone.

The Sixth Doctor smirked slyly, reaching inside his waistcoat pocket, "Do you mean this?" he asked innocently, raising his eyebrows as he held up the Nebuliser.

"Oh," the Fifth Hatter breathed to herself, breaking into a broad smile. She ought to have known that the Doctor would have been involved somehow, no doubt having needed to form a plan at the last moment. And she had a feeling she knew just what he had done, because she would have done the very same thing, "You clever, sneaky man," she muttered, feeling quite proud of him.

Chessene eyed the Sixth Doctor suspiciously, "Why did you remove it?"

He continued to smirk, "Because it contains my Symbiotic print," he answered calmly.

She grabbed the Nebuliser off him and passed it to Dastari, not taking her eyes off the Sixth Doctor, "Return this to the machine," she ordered him.

Dastari frowned at the Sixth Doctor, taking the device, "How did your Time Lord print get onto this?" he questioned.

"Stike forced me to prime and use the machine".

Dastari, seeming to believe him, stepped inside the module and inserted the Nebuliser into the inner control box.

Chessene looked thoughtfully at the Sixth Doctor, "There is a simple way of testing whether you are still trying to deceive us," she remarked, glancing at Dastari, who stepped back out of the module, giving her a nod. She turned to Peri, "Come, girl".

"No!" Jamie shouted as he and the Second Doctor moved to help pull Peri away from the woman, but the Second Hatter grabbed their arms, pulling them back slightly with a pointed look. She knew the Doctor, regardless whether he was a future version or not, and she could tell that the Sixth Doctor had done something. She couldn't work out just what, yet, but she could practically see it written all over his smug face.

"Come, girl," Chessene repeated, this time firmer as she grabbed Peri's arm, dragging her away from them and over the module, forcing her to sit inside the machine. Peri looked worriedly at the Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter, but they both nodded, the Time Lady giving her a comforting smile. Chessene closed the door and moved around to where Dastari was standing a short distance back from the device, holding a large control box in his arms that he had removed from inside the device, "Now we shall see," she said, giving Dastari a nod.

Dastari looked down at the controls in his arms, typing something into it, and a whirring sound rang out around the room from the module. Peri squeezed her hands inside the module, still looking very nervous, looking over to the Fifth Hatter and Sixth Doctor, just as the sound grew louder and the module dematerialised.

The Sixth Doctor smiled smugly over at Dastari and Chessene, "There you are," he said happily.

"Kartz and Reimer performed many experiments like this," Dastari informed them, not sounding overly regretful, "The subjects always vaporised into the time stream".

"Peri won't," he said confidently, smirking at them. The Fifth Hatter could have hugged him for having thought of such a clever plan, he very might have just given them the very thing they needed to stop this entire thing, "And she hasn't got any Symbiotic Nuclei, I can assure you," he added, almost mockingly.

Dastari frowned slightly, glancing at Chessene, who gave him another nod. He looked back to the controls and hit a couple of buttons, looking over towards the spot that the module had sat, just as it began to slowly materialise in the exact same spot with Peri still sitting inside, looking relieved as she caught sight of the Time Lords again.

Chessene stepped over to the module and pulled the door open, "Out," she ordered her curtly.

Peri slowly stood and made her way out of the module, moving to stand beside the Fifth Hatter, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "You did very well, Peri," the Time Lady whispered to her comfortingly, giving her a small smile.

The Sixth Doctor raised his eyebrows at Dastari and Chessene, "Satisfied?" he asked, still with a hint of mocking in his tone.

Chessene narrowed her eyes at him before turning to Dastari, "Dastari, chain these creatures up," she commanded him, clasping her hands together down her front.

"Creatures?" the Second Hatter exclaimed, looking offended as she pointed a finger at Chessene, "I don't think there's any need for name calling!"

"Chain us up?" the Sixth Doctor repeated indignantly, "After I've handed you the secret of time travel on a plate!" he shook his head, " _Come on_ , Chessene. Where's your gratitude?"

"Dastari!" Chessene called sharply.

Dastari grabbed the gun from out of his pocket, aiming it at them as he grabbed the back of Peri's top, shoving her forward and away from the Fifth Hatter, "Come on," he waved the gun at them, forcing the Time Lords, Jamie, and Peri to move over to the other side of the cellar and over to two pillars, "Come along".

He set to work chaining the two Hatter's and Peri up around a pillar by shackling their hands to the floor, working quickly as he did so, avoiding making eye contact with them. Once he had finished with the women, he stood and forced the two Doctor's over to the second pillar opposite the women, setting to work shackling them in a similar fashion, before standing after he had finished with them, stepping towards Jamie with his gun aimed at him.

Jamie eyed him carefully, his eyes flickering down to the gun, not noticing Shockeye creeping up behind him, licking his lips hungrily.

"Jamie, behind you!" the Second Hatter shouted, her eyes widening in alarm as she realised that he hadn't seen Shockeye.

Sadly, it was too late and Shockeye managed to catch Jamie's arm and bend it around his back, causing Jamie to cry out in pain and surprise, "Get your hands off me!" he cried, trying to struggle against the alien, but it was useless and only resulted in hurting his arm even more.

"Ah, steady, my beauty!" Shockeye chuckled, licking his lips, eyeing Jamie greedily as he forced him over towards the stairs. All the Time Lords and Peri could do was watch on, fearfully, "Oh, there's some juiceful meat on this one, Chessene!" he grinned over his shoulder towards the woman.

"Jamie!" the Second Doctor called worriedly, trying to look around the edge of the pillar to watch as his companion was forced up the stairs and out of sight, still groaning loudly in pain.

"Let him go!" the Second Hatter tried desperately, trying to pull against her restraints. She glared up at Dastari, "This is utter madness, Dastari! He's an innocent in all of this, surly even _you_ can see how wrong this is?"

Dastari ignored her, but she could tell that what she had said had some effect, if only a small one as his jaw clenched. He moved past her and over to where a wooden table was sitting a short distance in front of the two Doctor's, and held up the key's for the shackles, daggling it teasingly at them before dropping it onto the table with a smirk.

The Second Doctor immediately started trying to reach his foot out towards the table, scrunching up his face from the effort, but it was pointless and he gave up after a moment, "You might at least say goodbye!" he snapped angrily after Dastari as the man turned and headed for the stairs, disappearing up them. The moment he was gone, the Time Lords started struggling against the restraints and he glanced at the Sixth Doctor, "You're almost as clever as I am," he remarked quietly.

Peri frowned over at them, "What does he mean?" she questioned, confused.

"The Briode Nebuliser," the Second Hatter said thoughtfully, raising an eyebrow at the Sixth Doctor, "You sabotaged it, didn't you?"

The Sixth Doctor smirked slyly at them, looking quite proud of himself, "Pared the interface," he told them.

"Very clever, sweetheart," the Fifth Hatter smiled broadly at him, giving him a wink. That's exactly what she would have done, sometimes it really did surprise her just how much she and the Doctor thought alike.

"Precisely what I would have done," the Second Doctor nodded with a small, approving smile.

"But it worked, didn't it?" Peri continued to frown at them, still very confused as to what they were talking about.

"I left a thin membrane so it _would_ work _once_ ," the Sixth Doctor explained to her, still looking quite smug with what he had done, and feeling even more pleased with himself after the Fifth Hatter's compliment. He glanced at his past self, trying to lean towards him, "I knew she'd want to test it".

The Second Doctor sighed, growing impatient, "There's no need to be so smug," he huffed slightly, and the Sixth Doctor gave him a slightly annoyed look, "We've got to get Jamie out of that butcher's hands!"

Both Doctor's looked across to the Hatter's and Peri, "Can you reach that wheelchair?" they asked in unison, their eyes landing on Peri, who was nearest to the wheelchair on the other side of the pillar.

"I'm not elastic!" Peri shook her head at them, glancing over to the wheelchair, rolling her eyes slightly. She could barely wrap her fingers around her wrist, let alone try reaching for something.

"Try stretching your legs out," the Second Hatter said to her, eyeing the distance between Peri's foot and the wheelchair, "You might just be able to hook your foot onto the footrest if you stretch your leg out far enough".

"Just give it a try, Peri," the Fifth Hatter encouraged, seeing the doubtful look on the girls face.

Peri sighed slightly, "Can't you just use that laser pen?" she looked at the Fifth Hatter.

"Laser pen?" she repeated, staring at her, when she remembered that she had threatened Shockeye with a laser pen, "I don't have a laser pen, Peri. I lied!" Peri groaned loudly, while the others gave them strange and confused looks, "I'm a Time Lady, I don't go about with laser pens in my pockets…" Peri threw her an annoyed look, making her wince, "Though, perhaps in the future I really ought to build one".

Realising that there was no other choice, Peri huffed slightly and tried to pull herself as far away from the wall as she could, reaching out her leg, managing to hook her foot onto the base rung of the chair.

"Good girl!" the Sixth Doctor smiled broadly at her.

"That's it, Peri!" the Fifth Hatter cheered.

Peri paused, looking back to them, unsure of just what they had in mind, "What's the idea?"

"Push it over towards him," the Second Doctor instructed her, nodding to his future self, who slumped against the wall and reached out a leg towards the wheelchair.

"Why?" she frowned, shaking her head, "He's not going anywhere!"

"Don't argue, Peri," the Fifth Hatter sighed slightly, giving her a stern look, "Just do it. Everything will become clear soon enough".

Peri, still seeming confused, carefully pushed the bottom of the wheelchair over towards the Sixth Doctor, who managed to reach out and pull it towards him as it came towards him, "That's it!" he commented happily.

They watched as he carefully manoeuvred the chair with his feet over to the table with the key sitting on top of it, slowly moving it beneath the edge of the table, hooking the footrest part of the chair under a wooden rung below the table.

"What do you think?" he paused, eyeing the table and wheelchair in front of him.

"It might work," the Second Doctor remarked thoughtfully, "It's worth a try".

"You're going to need to do it quickly, though," the Fifth Hatter added, sounding slightly concerned. One wrong move or jolt and the entire plan would be destroyed, leaving them with no chance of escape, "One quick action, that's all you need".

"And do try to at least get the key to come towards you," the Second Hatter said warily, almost sounding amused, despite the situation.

Slowly, the Sixth Doctor pushed the bottom the wheelchair further forward, wanting to try and make sure that it was in exactly the right spot, "That's it," the Second Doctor murmured, watching tensely, "Easy does it".

Once he was sure it was in the right position, he nodded to himself and moved his foot up to wedge between the gape in the seat of the chair and the back, needing to be able to tip the chair upwards, "Right," he muttered to himself before he pushed his foot downwards, flipping the chair upwards, knocking the table sideways and sending the keys clattering onto the ground. Quickly, he reached out with his foot and dragged the key over to him across the stone floor, managing to kick it up to his hands.

The Fifth Hatter closed her eyes tightly, tilting her head back against the pillar, feeling relief wash over her as the Sixth Doctor set to work undoing his shackles, "Oh, thank Rassilon that worked," she breathed.

The Sixth Doctor quickly managed to unlock the shackles after some moving around, giving his wrist a shake with a small grimace. He glanced at his Second self before shaking his head, dashing over to the Fifth Hatter, who blinked in surprise at him, but shuffled forward slightly to allow him better accuse to her own restraints as he carefully inserted the key into the lock.

Suddenly, a scream sounded from above them, coming from Jamie. They all looked up, their eyes widening.

"Never mind me, Doctor!" the Fifth Hatter shook her head frantically at him, her voice urgent, "Go and save Jamie!"

He nodded, giving her a apologetic look as he leaped back onto his feet and made a dash for the stairs, "They keys!" the Second Doctor called after him, exasperated and very worried about Jamie.

He paused and carefully slid the keys across the floor, back over to the Fifth Hatter, who was once again surprised by the action, having expected that he would give it to his past self. As he ran up the stairs, disappearing from sight, she quickly set to work trying to unlock her restraints, trying to twist her body slightly to reach. She only hoped that Jamie would be okay.

… **The entrance hall** …..

As the Sixth Doctor reached the top of the cellar stairs, he carefully opened the door and poked his head into the entrance hall, wincing as the sound of Jamie crying out painfully rang out from the open kitchen door, followed by the sound a some sort of machinery humming. Seeing his chance, he darted over to the bottom the main stairs and hurried up them, carefully looking over the banister, just as Dastari walked in through the front door and entered the kitchen, an unsettled frown on his face as he heard Jamie's cries.

"What are you doing?" Dastari's voice came a moment later.

The machinery sound stopped, "Tenderising the meat," Shockeye's voice replied, sounding quite pleased with himself as Jamie moaned, "Oh, see how the flesh is marbling," he continued eagerly, "That's the fatty tissue breaking up".

"You should kill him first, surely?" Dastari's voice came again, sounding mildly alarmed.

"It works better on a live animal," he answered in a condescending tone, just as the sound of the machinery started again and Jamie cried out loudly. The Sixth Doctor winced at the sound.

"It looks very painful".

"That's simply a…a nervous reflex," he told him, the sound of the machinery stopping once more, "I've been butchering all my life. Primitive creatures don't feel pain in the way that we would," the machinery started again and Jamie moaned loudly, while the Sixth Doctor could only listen on, shaking his head, horrified. Shockeye laughed gleefully, stopping the machinery, "Now this is the part, I always say, where you can tell a butcher from a botcher," he said after a moment, seeming to be moving around the kitchen, "The meat should always have a clean edge".

Suddenly, Chessene stormed into the entrance hall, seeming to have come from the cellar. The Sixth Doctor leaned back from the banister, listening carefully, "Dastari, you fool!" she snapped furiously, marching into the kitchen, "One of the Time Lords has escaped!"

"That's impossible!" Dastari gasped.

"You couldn't have fastened the manacle properly," she spat.

"I tell you I did!"

"Don't argue! It's vital that he be caught and killed".

"Chessene, listen to me," Dastari's voice grew softer, forcing the Sixth Doctor to lean further over the railing to hear. He thought he could detect a hint of worry entering the man's voice, "To kill a Time Lord would mean destruction of everything we've achieved. The Gallifreyans have powers we've not even dreamed of!"

But Chessene seemed to be beyond reasoning with, "Kill him, I tell you!" she practically shrieked furiously, "Kill him!"

The Sixth Doctor waited, listening intently as a moment passed before Dastari reluctantly emerged from the kitchen, grasping the gun in his hands, a very troubled expression written across his face as he stormed outside into the courtyard, obviously believing that the escaped Time Lord would have attempted to leave the house. He felt a wave of relief, knowing that while he was outside searching, that would give the others time to get themselves free.

"This will only take a few minutes, madam," Shockeye's voice came again, sounding completely unaffected by the fight that had just occurred, "I thought we could have the saddle and the haunches for supper".

"Never mind that now, Shockeye!" Chessene shouted at him, turning her anger onto him, "I want that Time Lord found!"

Chessene stormed out of the room, looking furious as she headed outside the main doors. Shockeye followed behind her out the door, looking annoyed that he was being forced to leave his cooking for later. The Sixth Doctor waited for a moment, wanting to make sure that they were really gone before he quietly hurried down the stairs and ran across into the kitchen to find Jamie lying on his back, strapped to the large table by bits of cloth, unconscious.

He hurried over to him, running his eyes over him quickly for any injuries, "Jamie," he called quietly to him, leaning over him as he lightly tapped his face, "Jamie, can you hear me?" Jamie moaned, still half unconscious as the Doctor looked around and caught sight a large knife sitting on one of the kitchen benches. He dashed over to it and grabbed it, using it to cut the binding around Jamie's ankles and his right wrist, "Jamie," he hissed, trying to give him a shake as he simply moaned painfully, "Wake up".

He moved around the table, sighing slightly as Jamie made no move to wake, and reached to cut the binding around Jamie's left wrist, when Shockeye suddenly entered the room and grabbed the Sixth Doctor from behind, wrestling him away from Jamie before he could even try to fight back. Shockeye twisted the Doctor's wrist and kicked his stomach, forcing him to let go of the knife as he reeled back, crying out in pain.

The Sixth Doctor scrambled around to the other side of the table, trying to put it between him and Shockeye as he aimed the knife at him, a nasty glint in his eyes, "I thought you might return to help the primitive," he remarked, eyeing the Doctor closely.

The Sixth Doctor made a desperate dash to try and release Jamie's left arm, but Shockeye caught up with him and slashed his knife at him, cutting the Doctor's leg, making him yelp in pain, grabbing at his cut leg, feeling the blood beginning to trickle out of the wound as he quickly tried to hobble out of the room as fast as he could.

Luckily, for him, Shockeye seemed to hesitate in the kitchen, giving him a few extra moments to half run, half hobble across the entrance hall and out the front door into the bright sunlight. He stumbled and slipped on the steps outside, sending him crashing onto his back, groaning loudly as he clutched his bleeding cut. He wanted to check it, to see just how deep it was, but he knew that he wouldn't have enough time to waste.

He cast a quick look back through the open door, checking to make sure that Shockeye wasn't about to catch him, before struggling to climb back onto his feet. He quickly limped across to the courtyards gate and out it, trying to think of a plan, just as Shockeye stepped out through the doorway, holding the knife.

The Sixth Doctor didn't wait to see if he was following him as he ran off into the countryside surrounding the house, hoping a plan would present itself to him.

….. **Meanwhile, in the cellar** …..….…

After quite a bit of twisting and turning, the Fifth Hatter finally got herself free from her restraints and stood, rubbing her wrist as she carefully slide the keys across the floor to the Second Doctor, deciding to return the favour…or, at least, the future favour.

"Will you be okay?" she asked them, looking over Peri, the Second Doctor, and her past self, slightly concerned about leaving them behind. When Chessene had checked on them and discovered that the Sixth Doctor has escaped, she had been furious. Luckily, she had thought that he had taken the keys with him to return to release them later, but even still, the Fifth Hatter couldn't help but feel just a little worried about leaving them behind.

"We'll be fine," the Second Hatter assured her.

"Just leave us," the Second Doctor added, and she imagine that he would have been waving her away if he could have, "Go, my dear!"

"Be careful, Hatter!" Peri called after her, looking worried.

The Fifth Hatter flashed them a bright smile, nodding to Peri before running over to the stairs, dashing up them, pausing she reached the door. Slowly, she opened the door and peeked out into the entrance hall, but once she was sure there was no one there, she hurried out and over to the kitchen, carefully stepping inside.

Jamie was half lying on top of the table, looking groggy as he grabbed a knife, using it to cut the rope holding his left hand to the table. The Fifth Hatter moved to help him, "Jamie!" she hissed, making sure to keep her voice down.

"Hatter," Jamie blinked slightly, letting her take the knife and cut the rope, "Where's the Doctor? I mean, my Doctor and Hatter?" he asked, correcting himself.

"Still in the cellar," she told him, putting the knife on the table, not noticing the way that Jamie's eyes lingered on it for a moment, far too worried about what might be happening to the Sixth Doctor, "They might need some help," she sighed, looking at him hopefully, "I don't suppose you know where my Doctor went?"

"Sorry, no," he shook his head.

She nodded, not surprised, "Are you alright?" she cast her eyes over him.

"I'm fine, you just focus on your Doctor".

She gave him a small smile, patting his arm as she stepped over to the kitchen table, peeking around it carefully before hurrying across the entrance hall, heading over to the front door.

Jamie grabbed the knife the moment she left the room, "Right," he almost growled, eyeing the sharp edge, "I'll have that Shockeye, so I will".

And with that, he stormed out of the kitchen, heading for the cellar door.

…..… **The cellar** …..…

The Second Doctor and Hatter, both having managed to free themselves, quickly helped Peri to unlock her restraints, taking her hands and helping to pull her up onto her feet.

"Come along, Peri," the Second Doctor said to her, pulling her along with them, heading for the stairs, "It's time we were off".

"Okay," Peri nodded, more than happy to get out of the cellar.

They hurried over to the stairs, only to stop short, their eyes widening as Dastari casually walked down the stairs, coming to a stop at the base of them, not seeming surprised to see them free, "Chessene wants me to kill you," he informed them, raising the gun in his hand, aiming it at them.

The Doctor, the Hatter, and Peri held up their hands in surrender, exchanging a worried look.

…..…. **The front door** …..…..

The Fifth Hatter ran out of the front door, blinking slightly as the harsh glare of the sun hit her. She started down the steps, only to stop as she caught sight of what appeared to be blood smeared across one of the steps.

"Oh, please tell me that's not what I think it is," she muttered to herself, swallowing slightly as she knelt beside the stain, reaching out a finger to touch it. It was still fresh, even in the hot sun it hadn't yet had time to dry, which meant that it could have only have just been spilt.

She leaned closer to it and examined it closely, sighing heavily as she realised that her fear had been true. The stain was darker then human blood would have been, but even still, she couldn't quite tell for certain. It might have been an Androgum's blood.

She took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself, needing to make sure just who the blood came from, "The things I do for you, Doctor," she said to herself, and reached out to touch the blood, grimacing as she lifted her finger up and licked it. The moment it made contact with her tongue, she gaged and tried to spitting it out, clawing at her tongue, "Damn you, Doctor," she groaned, making a mental note to brush her teeth with the strongest tooth paste she could get her hands on for the next month.

Still, at least now she had confirmation. She was positive it was the Sixth Doctor's blood and now, she got to spend the rest of her life trying to supress this little memory. Lovely. With that comforting thought in mind, she stood, wiping her finger on her skirt, and jogged down the rest of the steps and over towards the courtyards gate, following the trail of blood. If he wasn't bleeding to death, she was never going to forgive him.

….. **The Grounds around the house** ….

The Sixth Doctor half limped, half ran down a slope, looking back behind him every now and again to check just how close Shockeye was, but luckily he was still quite a bit ahead of the other man. He winced with every step as it sent a sharp pain up his leg from the cut, still clutching onto it, trying to stop the bleeding as it continued to trickle down his leg and over his fingers.

He looked back over his shoulder and forced himself to move faster as he noticed that Shockeye had started catching up on him, waving his knife around, "Your run has nearly ended, Time Lord!" he called after the Doctor, chasing after him down the slope as the Sixth Doctor skidded slightly down the hill, groaning painfully as it sent a sharp pain through his leg, but he forced himself on, "Give up, Time Lord, you cannot escape Shockeye o' the Quauncing Grig!" he shouted after him.

The Sixth Doctor made it into a small valley-like area with a dip between two hills. He limped through the long grass, panting heavily, the pain taking an extra toll on him and forcing him to work twice as hard to try and stay ahead of Shockeye. He noticed something nestled in the grass under a tree and hurried over to it, almost falling face first as he reached it.

A butterfly net had been left lying in the grass, along with a small bag, a camping lamp, and a small jar with some sort of white powder inside. He looked it over curiously and grabbed the net, vaguely recalling Oscar mentioning that he had been out hunting for moths when they first meet him. He shook his head, sitting the next back down in the grass as he cast a quick look over his shoulder, but Shockeye was nowhere in sight.

He returned his attention back to the equipment and sat down on the ground, wincing painfully and grabbing his leg as the movement caused it pain. He took a few steady breaths, trying to push the pain away as he reached for the jar, unscrewing the lid to find that the top half of the jar had been filled with a thick layer of cotton wool. He lifted it off the white powder and lifted the jar up to his nose, giving it a curious sniff, recognising the smell immediately as cyanide.

Slowly, an idea came to him and he glanced back over his shoulder. He couldn't possibly overpower Shockeye, not with his leg, nor could he continue to run from him for much longer, but perhaps there was another way to end this…though, he wasn't entirely pleased with the idea, it was the only one he could think of. Even still, he knew that the Fifth Hatter was going to be furious once she found out, or maybe _if_ was a better word. It would only upset her, surely if she didn't ask then he wouldn't have to tell her? He sighed heavily, shaking his head at himself. Oh, who was he fooling? He would probably end up telling her the moment she asked about his cut, he would just have to prepare himself to face her anger.

Carefully, the Sixth Doctor placed the cottonwool onto the lid of the jar, pouring some of the cyanide powder onto it. He found a canteen in the bag and undid the lid, pouring some of the water onto the cyanide, causing it to smoke lightly. He replaced the canteen in the bag and grabbed the butterfly net and the cottonwool, climbing back onto his feet as he moved to hide behind the nearest tree, waiting.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long as Shockeye reached the valley-like area a moment later, looking around, licking his lips as he panted. He grabbed the large sword hanging on his hip and removed it from his belt, holding it one hand and the kitchen knife in the other. He slowly approached the tree that the Doctor was hiding behind, pausing as he looked down at the equipment on the ground.

"Oh, the blood is warm and salty, Time Lord," he growled hungrily, inhaling deeply as his eyes flew around him, completely oblivious to the Sixth Doctor standing behind the tree right in front of him. He sniffed again and stepped closer to the tree, moving around it slightly, holding his knife's out at the ready, "I know how near you are!" he called, rounding the tree, his gaze fixed on the trees around him.

The Sixth Doctor snuck up behind him and forced the net over Shockeye's head, causing him to cry out in surprise as he shoved the poisoned cottonwool onto Shockeye's mouth and nose, pressing it firmly against his face. He tried to fight against him, but his attempts were weak as the poison began taking affect the moment he inhaled it. He clawed at the Doctor's hand, coughing badly against the cottonwool, but as the Doctor began to slowly lower him down towards the ground, his hands grew weaker and his coughing stopped completely.

He held the wool over his face for a few moments longer as he let Shockeye go onto the ground, wanting to make sure that he was really dead before he let go of the wool and straightened, sighing heavily as he looked down at him, "Your just desserts," he told him, shaking his head.

"Doctor!" the Fifth Hatter's voice rang out a short distance away, sounding very worried.

The Sixth Doctor felt all the colour drain from his face as his head snapped behind him to see the Time Lady running down the slope, one hand holding her hat on as she looked around widely. He looked back down to Shockeye's body, but he knew that it was too late to try moving him. He only hoped that he could make her understand.

"Doctor!" she shouted again, when she caught sight of the Sixth Doctor standing just behind a tree a short distance ahead of her. She broke into a relieved smile and ran over to him, her eyes flying straight to his leg where she could see blood staining his trousers, "Doctor, I was so worried," she told him, throwing her arms around him before he could even blink, burring her face into his neck, "Thank goodness I finally found you, was starting to worry you had bleed to death under a tree…" she trailed off suddenly, tensing in his arms.

She pulled back from him, her eyes fixed on the ground behind him, a look of horrified realisation crossing her face that made him feel ill just seeing it, knowing that he had caused it, "Let me explained," he began quickly, reaching to grasp her arms.

The Hatter jumped back from him, batting his hands away from her with a furious look, "No, don't touch me!" she snapped, moving away from him, her eyes fixed on him as he swallowed, hard, holding up his hands, "You want to explain?" she hissed and pointed down to Shockeye's body, "You want to try to explain to me how the hell you ended up murdering someone?"

"It was self-defence!" the Sixth Doctor said at once, flitching at the word 'murder'. He had seen that look on her face before, but never directed at him. No, that was the look she had given the Master before, "He was going to kill me…and you".

But that only seemed to increase her anger and she suddenly marched up to him, slapping him, "Don't you dare try to bring me into this," she breathed, glaring at him as his head snapped sideways at the force of the slap, the sound echoing around them. She was breathing heavily, almost breathless she was so angry, "Don't try to use me as an excuse in your actions, not this time, not when I had _nothing_ to do with it".

His hand flew to his sore cheek, his eyes wide. He might have under calculated just how angry she would be. He took a deep breath, "Hatter, please," he tried again, "It was self-defence, I didn't have a choice!"

"Oh, and I suppose you couldn't have knocked him out instead of…" she moved closer to Shockeye and knelt beside his body, gingerly lifting the cottonwool, examining it from a safe distance, careful not to breath any of it in, "Poisoning him with cyanide," she finished, throwing the cottonwool on the ground as she stood, crossing her arms across her chest

He opened his mouth, when he realised that she did have a point. He could have found a way to knock Shockeye out rather than kill him, even stunning him would have been enough. He sighed heavily, "I'm sorry," he finally said, but his tone grew stronger as he went on, "But I won't apologise for protecting myself," he made sure not to mention her again, even though a big reason for wanting to stop Shockeye had been because of her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "There was another way, there's always another way, Doctor," she reminded him, anger still lacing her voice, "Killing him should have only been the very _last_ resort".

"Yes," he nodded, unable to argue with that, "But at least now he can't hurt anyone else…"

"Don't go there, Doctor," she cut across at quickly, pointing a warning finger at him, "It was not up to you to decide what his punishment should be, so don't pretend as if it was," she looked away from him, reaching up to rub her forehead, "I mean, come on, Doctor!" she meet his eyes again, "Did your ego fall on top of your head? Because that's the only thing I could think of that would make you ever even think about doing something like this".

The Sixth Doctor almost laughed at the ego part, he knew very well what she thought about his smugness, and it was just such a typical thing for her to say, even when angry, "No, I don't believe it did," he replied, unable to help the hint of amusement in his tone, but it quickly vanished at the look she gave him. He cleared his throat and stepped closer to her, glad when she didn't move away from him, "You're right," he told her, and if it had been anyone else, he doubted he would have bothered to try so hard in defending himself, but he simply couldn't stand to see the look on her face whenever she looked at him, "There was other ways, and I'm sorry. I acted impulsively, perhaps".

She eyed him carefully for a long moment, her eyes narrowed as they searched his face, "Do you regret it?"

"Do you truly believe that I wouldn't regret taking a life?"

"Of course not, but the fact still remains that you did take a life, self-defence or not".

"I…regret that I have upset you and that I thought I had to take a life, but I don't regret protecting myself or anyone else".

The Fifth Hatter sighed heavily, closing her eyes tightly. She was still angry and she doubted that was going to fade anytime soon, she still felt the urge to hit him again, but she took a deep breath, and forced the urge away. She knew that he was telling the truth, in the moment he had believed that it was the only thing that he could do to defend himself and she could hardly get angry at that. She simply wished that it hadn't happened, that Shockeye had faced punishment that he deserved given to him by the proper authorities, but it was too late for that now.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, "We should get back to the others," she said suddenly, simply wanting to move on from the subject. There was nothing more that could be said or done to make it any better or change what had happened, and she was positive that if they continued to discuss it for much longer she was either going to hit him again or be physically sick, neither of which would make her feel better.

She began to turn away, but the Sixth Doctor caught her arm. She stopped short and gave him a sharp look, making him wince, quickly letting her arm go. That look said all it needed to, she certainly hadn't forgiven him, "I'm sorry," he said again, feeling that he needed her to know.

"Doctor, please, just leave it," she told him tiredly, but firmly, "You know how I feel, you are perfectly aware that what you did was wrong, you're not a child. There's no more that can be said, and I fear that if we keep talking about it I am going to be sick, so please," she took a deep breath, her jaw set as she meet his eyes, "Just stop talking about it. Later, once I'm not so angry with you that I feel like strangling, then we can talk about it, perhaps".

Deciding that it was wise to do as she said, he nodded and made to follow her as she started to walk again, but winced loudly as the movement sent a sharp pain through his leg. He had completely forgotten about his leg. The Time Lady moved to his side almost at once, her anger seeming to be droned out for the time being by concern for him. He couldn't help but wonder if getting his leg cut might have had some benefit after all.

"Let me see," she said sternly, kneeling on the ground and carefully moving the slit fabric away from the cut to get a closer look, "Hmm…" she hummed, examining it, "It's not very deep, I'll have to look at it closer when we get back to the TARDIS. For the time being…" she stood and reached inside her skirt pocket, withdrawing a piece of cloth and started tying it around the wound, making him yelp slightly, "Oh, stop fussing," she scolded, her anger flaring again, leaving her very impenitent dealing with him, "Just hold still while I tie this knot".

Slightly meekly, not wishing to provoke her anger any more than it already was, the Doctor did as she said and tried to stand as still as he possibly could, wincing painfully as she pulled the cloth tightly against the wound, not enough to cut of blood supply, though, and quickly tied a knot.

She nodded after a moment, seeming satisfied with her work, "That should be a temporary fix," she remarked, looking back to him, "Now, put your arm around my shoulders and we can head back up to the house".

"Did I ever tell you that your scary when your angry?" the Sixth Doctor asked after a moment, wrapping his arm around her shoulder's while she put an arm around his waist, the two of them setting off towards the house.

"And you just remember that in future, maybe it will stop you from doing anything like this again".

….….. **The cellar** ….

Jamie slowly crept down the cellar stairs, holding the kitchen knife out in front of him as he glanced over to the middle of the room where he could only just see the Second Doctor and Hatter, along with Peri, standing before Dastari, partly hidden around a pillar a short distance from the Kartz-Reimer Module. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard a noise come from the cellar door, and quickly dropped down the last step and hurried to hide in the small alcove beneath the stairs.

He waited for a moment as footsteps sounded on the steps and Chessene appeared, holding a gun in her hand as she walked down the steps, completely oblivious to Jamie watching her. Carefully, he moved out of the alcove and quietly walked behind her, bent low as she reached the bottom of the stairs, heading over to the Time Lords and Peri.

"…I remember it very clearly, Doctor, Hatter," Dastari was saying to the Time Lords.

"There speaks the _real_ , Dastari!" the Second Doctor broke into a broad smile, grabbing the other man's shoulders affectionately, while Peri and the Second Hatter watched on with wide, pleased smiles. They had finally managed to convince Dastari just how mad this entire plan of his truly was and he agreed to put a stop to it, "My old friend!" he went on happily.

"Oh, Dastari," the Second Hatter said brightly, patting his shoulder, only just holding herself back from hugging the man, "You have no idea what a relief it is to hear you speak reason again. You had us very worried for a while there," she told him, smiling as she glanced at Peri and the Second Doctor, "Now, I really think we ought to be getting out of here".

They turned towards the stairs, only to stop short as they found Chessene standing in front of them with her gun aimed at the Time Lords and Peri, blocking the way. She narrowed her eyes at Dastari, "I ordered you to kill these three," she snapped at him, looking very suspicious, "Why are they still alive?"

"There's been enough killing, Chessene," Dastari said firmly to her, looking regretful, "And it's my fault," he sighed, shaking his head grimly as she frowned at him, "I took an Androgum, a lowly, unthinking creature of instinct, and tried to set her among the Gods".

"I put myself among the Gods!" Chessene spat at him, glaring at him angrily before she threw a quick look over to the Time Lords and Peri, "And now I shall liberate my people!" she held her chin higher, turning back to Dastari, "With me as their leader we shall reign over all beings!"

Dastari made to lung at her, trying to get the gun out of her hands, but she shot him before he could barely move. He cried out painfully, collapsing onto the ground, dead, and Peri screamed, horrified by what she had just witnessed. The Second Doctor and Hatter grabbed her hands, trying to make an escape as they pulled her along with them around a pillar and the Module, making a dash for the stairs.

Chessene hurried around the pillar, cutting them off, "Stop!" she shouted at them, aiming her gun at them with a dangerous look on her face, and they skidded to a halt, knowing that they didn't have a chance of escaping now.

Knowing that they were about to die, they slowly raised their hands, trying to prepare themselves for what was about to happen, when Jamie snuck around the side of second pillar and threw his knife at Chessene. It hit her gun, causing it fire widely as she accidently dropped it, but luckily the shots completely missed the Second Doctor, Hatter, and Peri.

Chessene grabbed at her wrist and ran for the module door, realising that she was outnumbered, and pulled it open, quickly sitting down inside and closing the door, activating the device. The machine began shaking erratically, making a loud mechanical sound as smoke started billowing from out of the engines.

Jamie took a few steps back from the module and beckoned to the Second Doctor, Hatter, and Peri to join him, watching as a panicked look crossed Chessene's face inside the machine. The Time Lords and Peri edged over to Jamie, just as the Module suddenly exploded, causing them to flinch back as the door and panels flew off, sparking violently and Chessene emerged from the smoke with a loud scream pf pain, collapsing onto the floor. Peri and Jamie hurried forward, the Time Lords following at a slower pace as they gathered around Chessene's body.

Peri looked over to the Time Lords, looking slightly pale, "Is…is she dead?" she asked.

"Very dead, I'm afraid," the Second Hatter replied grimly, looking down at Chessene's face as little warts sprung up all over her face, her forehead grew more preannounced, and her eyebrows became very bushy and bright red, quite similar to Shockeye's, replacing the once pretty face.

"Molecular disintegration," the Second Doctor remarked, also watching the transformation, grimacing slightly, "Horrible".

"So…that's it, then?" Peri questioned, glancing back to the Time Lords, hoping that it really was finally over.

"Aye," Jamie nodded, when something suddenly occurred to him, "Except for that Shockeye!" he almost growled angrily, not having forgotten what had happened in the kitchen.

The Sixth Doctor and Fifth Hatter approached them from behind, the Time Lady keeping a steady arm around the Doctor's waist to help him walk, "He's been…er…" the Sixth Doctor began as they all turned to look at them. He glanced warily at the Fifth Hatter, "Mothballed," he finished.

The Fifth Hatter nudged his side sharply, shooting him a small glare, "Don't, just don't," she told him firmly, letting a touch of anger into her tone.

He winced slightly, both from the nudge and her tone, nodding quickly to her, "Yes, sorry," he muttered sheepishly. He caught sight of the very badly damaged Module, eager to move on from that previous subject, "My word, what a mess!" he remarked, looking slightly mockingly over to his past self, "It'll take you a while to put that back together again!"

The Second Doctor and Hatter exchanged a quick look as they stepped over to them, "That will _not_ be necessary," the Second Doctor told him smugly, raising an eyebrow at the blonde Time Lady, "My dear?"

The Second Hatter grinned broadly, giving her Doctor a wink as she reached inside the pocket of her dress, "Ta da!" she called, withdrawing the TARDIS recall device from her pocket with a dramatic flourish, waving it around for the future Doctor and Hatter to see with a playful look, "I told you it was a good idea to take it with us," she said pointedly to her Doctor.

The Fifth Hatter laughed softly, almost seeming impressed by her past self, "Oh, you cheeky thing," she commented proudly. While a device like that would be something she would very much like to have, sadly, that device would only work on the Doctor's Type 40 TARDIS.

The Sixth Doctor's eyes grew wide as he saw the device, "A Stattenheim remote control?" he exclaimed incredulously, making to grab the device, but the Second Hatter skipped out of his reach, poking her tongue back to him. He looked at the device longingly, "Where did you get that?" he asked, almost sounding jealous of his past self, "I've _always_ wanted one of those".

The Second Doctor smirked smugly at him, very much enjoying teasing his future regeneration, "Some of us have earned these little privileges," he informed him.

The Second Hatter held the device up and whistled loudly, giving her future self a wink as she did so, feeling very pleased with herself after witnessing the Sixth Doctor's little outburst. A moment past and the sound of the TARDIS engines echoed through the room as the TARDIS started materialising a short distance from them under an archway.

As the sound died down, the Second Doctor and Hatter stepped over to the door, and the Doctor grabbed his key from his coat, unlocking the door, pushing it open. He turned back to look over to where Jamie was standing beside Peri, "Jamie!" he called over to him, gesturing to him to go inside the TARDIS.

"Er, after you, Doctor," Jamie inclined his head to him.

"Oh, no," he smiled slightly, shaking his head at him, "After _you_ , Jamie".

Jamie turned to Peri, holding out his hand towards her, "Goodbye, Peri".

Peri smiled at him, taking his hand and shaking it, "Bye," she replied to him, blinking in surprise as he kissed her cheek suddenly.

He grinned broadly, looking quite pleased with himself as the Second Doctor and Hatter exchanged amused looks. He turned and walked over to the Fifth Hatter and Sixth Doctor, waving to them, "Doctor," he said to them with a bright smile, "Hatter".

"Bye, Jamie," the Sixth Doctor nodded, returning the smile before focusing on the Second Hatter, his smile growing wider, "And goodbye, Hatter".

"Goodbye, Doctor," the Second Hatter wiggled her fingers at him in a little wave, winking, "Well, for now, at least".

The Fifth Hatter smiled broadly at Jamie, moving away from her Doctor to give Jamie a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. She had always been quite fond of Jamie and had so wished thing's had ended differently for him, "Goodbye, Jamie," she said brightly, pulling away from him and moving to her past self, holding out her hand, "You will take care of him, won't you?" she raised an eyebrow at her, "And try not to annoy poor Alice and Max to much after their honeymoon?"

"Are we really the shaking hands type?" the Second Hatter questioned, but still took her hand and shook it.

"Would you have preferred a curtsy?" she resorted playfully, the corner of her mouth twitching.

The blonde laughed, letting go of her hand, "No, I would have stayed of Gallifrey if that was the case," she reached up to the glasses on her face, remembering that she had borrowed them, "Would you like these back?"

"You keep them, I doubt Lily will notice," she waved her off, shrugging, "Besides, you need them more then my pocket's do," she turned to the Second Doctor, giving him a hopeful look, "Do I get a hug, old friend?"

"For you, my dear, always," the Second Doctor grinned broadly, quickly sweeping her into a big hug. He caught his future regeneration's eye over her shoulder and they exchanged a quick, understanding look.

The Fifth Hatter gave him one last smile as she pulled away and walked back to the Sixth Doctor's side, missing the look that passed between the two Time Lords, "Keep an eye on the old gentlemen, will you, Jamie?" the Sixth Doctor said to Jamie as the Scottish man disappeared inside the TARDIS.

The Second Doctor turned back to him, "Do try and keep out of my way in future _and_ in past, there's a good fellow," he told him haughtily, the two Hatter's scoffed quietly, exchanging amused looks, "The time continuum should be big enough for the both of us," he paused, casting his eyes over his future self as he pattered his stomach, " _Just_ ".

The Sixth Doctor shook his head at him, watching while the Second Doctor and Hatter started to head inside the TARDIS, "Do you know, I think I preferred you as an Androgum," he remarked to his back.

"Play nicely, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter scolded him lightly, giving her past self one final wave as the Second Doctor pointedly ignored the remark, stepping inside the TARDIS with the Second Hatter, closing the door behind them.

"He started it first," he defended himself.

"Oh, please," she rolled her eyes at him, laughing slightly, "He's _you_ , therefore you started it right from the beginning. I'm afraid you can't use that excuse, not this time".

They turned back to watch as the TARDIS engines start again, filling the room with the grinding, wheezy sound as the time machine dematerialised. Seeing no point to staying any longer, the Doctor, the Hatter, and Peri walked up the stairs and entered the entrance hall, the Doctor still limping slightly and with an annoyed look crossing his face.

"Of all the conceited ingrates!" he complained loudly, throwing a look back towards the cellar door. The Hatter sighed slightly, having expected him to start ranting the moment his past self-had left, "Do you know, he almost succeeded in concealing _my_ natural charm," he raised his eyebrows and pointed to his chest.

"What a waste that would have been," the Hatter mumbled to herself, sending his back a dark look. She certainly hadn't forgotten what had happened to Shockeye, nor did she expect that she ever would.

Peri frowned slightly, "Was that your TARDIS?" she asked him as they came to a stop in the middle of the entrance hall.

"Mmm," he nodded.

"I don't understand," she shook her head, her looking even more confused as she glanced at the Time Lady, "How can it be in two places at the same time?"

"But it's _not_ at two places at the same time," the Hatter tried to explain to her, looking slightly amused by the question. Sometimes she forgot just how little human's understood about time travel, "Our TARDIS, or rather the Doctor's TARDIS is less than a five minute walk from here," she shrugged slightly as Peri still looked confused, "It's simply at a different point in time to the Second Doctor's TARDIS".

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded to the Hatter.

"Oh," Peri said slowly, still not completely understanding how it worked, but she doubted she ever would. Time Lord Science was just too hard for the average human mind to understand, she supposed.

He held out a hand towards the front door, "After you," he said to her.

She glanced at the door, a small smile spreading across her face as she turned back to the Doctor, "No, after you," she resorted playfully, making the Hatter laugh, remembering Jamie and the Second Doctor's interaction.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her, realising what she was doing as he glanced back towards the cellar door, "No," he said a bit more sternly, "After _you_ ".

"Oh, there's really a simple way to end this," the Hatter cut in, smiling brightly at them, raising an eyebrow at them as she moved passed them, heading over to the front door, "I'll go first".

"And that, my dear, Hatter, is why you would have made an excellent judge," the Doctor commented, quickly catching up to her, linking his arm through hers.

"A judge?" she repeated, shaking her head, "Oh, no. Too much paperwork and formalities," she smiled at him, giving him a wink, "No, I think I'll stick to being a mad, hate wearing adventurer".

"Doctor?" Peri asked after a moment, a slight hint of worry in her tone, making both Time Lords look at her, "We're not going fishing again, are we?"

"Oh, I hope not," the Hatter breathed, her eyes widening with alarm at the very thought as she looked quickly to the Doctor. She was ready to make a run for her TARDIS once she got back to the Doctor's time machine and escape if that was the case.

"No," the Doctor told them, putting a hand on Peri's shoulder, "From now on it's a healthy _vegetarian_ diet," he said, giving her a firm nod, "For both of us".

The Time Lady scoffed loudly, "I would like to see you try".

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You don't think I could become a vegetarian?"

"Oh, no, I believe that you could…I just don't think you would be able to last. I bet you'll crack within the first century".

He held his head higher, "Challenge accepted".

"Fine, and I'll be holding you to that," she warned, pointing a finger at him, "Now, can we please leave this place?" she sighed, casting her eyes around the room, "I've had enough of this house to last me for the next lifetime".

And with that, they turned and headed for the door, very glad to finally being leaving and put all the bloodshed that had transpired behind them.

 _ **One more chapter to go, and I have to say that I loved writing that fight scene between the Fifth Hatter and the Sixth Doctor. Also, did anyone catch the reference in here from a one-shot in Time and Space, Chapter 14? And I just couldn't resist making the future reference to the laser pen. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**The Two Doctors and Hatters**_

 _ **The Second Doctor's TARDIS**_

"Off so soon?" the Doctor asked, sighing slightly as he stood in the door to the Hatter's TARDIS, watching as the Time Lady stood at her console, letting her hands drift over the controls.

The Hatter hardly seemed to blink at the sound of his voice, "I was planning to say goodbye first," she told him, glancing up from the controls, giving him a smile, "I was just trying to think of where to go next".

The Doctor stepped further into the large, steampunk style room, moving up to join her at her controls. He reached out to touch one of the controls, just to see what she would do, and as he had expected before he had even touched a single button she had already battered his hand away.

"Don't touch," she warned him, waggling a finger at him, almost as if he was a misbehaving child.

"I am perfectly capable of driving," he sniffed haughtily, trying hard to hide his amusement. He found it very funny how she didn't trust him with her TARDIS, refusing to let him even touch the controls without her permission.

She scoffed loudly, "With or without the brakes on first?" she questioned innocently.

"I happen to like the sound! It adds character".

"It certainly adds something. You would get around much faster if you only took the brakes off".

"I thought you were planning where to go next?" he said quickly and loudly, desperately trying to get off the subject of his TARDIS and his driving skills.

The Hatter laughed, not fooled in the slightest by his attempts to get off the subject, but decided to humour him, "Well, first I have to pick Max and Alice up," she informed him, shrugging as she leaned against the console, "They're honeymoon is over now, so I get to stop playing intergalactic taxi driver and start going on some proper adventures with them again".

"Won't it be uncomfortable travelling with a married couple?"

"Well, thing's will be slightly different. I'll have to remember to give them their space more often now, I suppose, but it's nice to be around two people who married for love, rather than by an arrangement. I've never really seen that close up before, it's lovely".

The Doctor winced slightly at that, never having really thought about that. His parents, while not openly affectionate with each other, had genuinely cared for each other, while the Hatter's parents had barely tolerated each other. It had never occurred to him before that she might not have witnessed what a proper marriage might look like.

"And what about the time differences?" he asked curiously, deciding it was probably best to stay away from the subject of love and marriage, less he accidently let something slip, "He's from the 90's and she's from the late Victorian time".

"I assume they'll choose to settle in Alice's time," the Hatter shrugged, not having thought about it before. That was between them, it wasn't up to her, "Alice has her family, while Max never knew his Father and his Mother died when he was nineteen. Max wouldn't want to take Alice away from her family".

"They seem like a good match".

"Oh, they are," she nodded, smiling fondly at the thought of her companion's, "Personally, I've always thought that marriage should be based on friendship first…" the Doctor almost chocked on air at that, but the blonde was completely oblivious as she went on happily, "I mean, yes, I'm probably not to the best person to be giving marital advice, but I think that friendship is important in marriage".

The Doctor broke into a wide smile, his eyes twinkling, "I couldn't agree more, my Hatter," he remarked quietly, highly amused and just a little bit pleased to hear that she thought that way. It certainly gave him hope. He cleared his throat, "Are you sure you don't want to stay a bit longer?" he questioned hopefully.

She gave him a small smile, reaching across to pat his cheek gently, "Not this time, sweetheart," she said, shaking her head, making her glasses slip down her nose, "You're always welcome to join me," she added cheekily, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"And what about my TARDIS?" he raised his eyebrows playfully at her, lightly nudging her side.

"You couldn't possibly not bring the old girl with you, so I'm sure we could think of something".

"I thought you were going to say that I should take her back".

"Goodness, no!" the Hatter exclaimed, giving him an alarmed look, making him laugh at her reaction. Of course he had been joking, there was no way in the Universe that he would ever give up his time machine.

"I was only teasing, my dear," the Doctor told her, still laughing as she joined in.

"I ought to hope so, otherwise you will have quite an angry time machine on your hands," she smiled at him, and he winced at the thought how his TARDIS would react. It certainly wouldn't be pretty, "But in all seriousness," she began, her smile fading as she glanced at him, "Perhaps another time, Doctor, for now I'm content travelling the Universe with my own companion's".

He nodded, unsurprised. He knew how much she relished having her own independency now since leaving Gallifrey, "I understand perfectly," he assured her, smiling at her, and pulled her into a tight hug.

She happily returned the hug, once again feeling slightly amused by the fact that she was slightly taller than him in this regeneration. Oh, if only her first regeneration could see her now, she would have been so happy to see that she finally managed to be taller than the Doctor. They pulled apart, the Doctor kissing her forehead as they did so.

"You will take care of yourself, won't you, Doctor?" the Time Lady fixed him with an intent look, straightening his bowtie for him.

"Only if you take care of _yourself_ ," he replied cheekily.

She grinned and met his eyes, "I shall have to make sure to take care of myself, then".

The Doctor flashed her a wide smile and gave her a quick bow, making her laugh as she returned the gesture by pulling her hat off with a dramatic flourish before shoving it back on her head. She watched as he walked over to the door and outside, closing the door behind him.

"Right, then," she said to herself, clapping her hands excitedly as she spun on her heel, looking at the glass Time Rotor, "First, let's pick up the happy couple, then…next stop everywhere and anywhere".

And with that, she grabbed a lever and pulled it, setting off into the Time Vortex.

…

 **The Sixth Doctor's TARDIS**

The Doctor stood in the doorway of the Hatter's bedroom, watching while the Hatter moved around the room, picking up the things as she went and moving them inside her TARDIS that she had sitting off to the side of her room with the doors wide open, this time disguised as a wooden wardrobe. She didn't seem to have noticed him, so focused on what she was doing.

He sighed slightly to himself, knowing what was coming next. She always did this before she left, she had even gone to the trouble of making her own bed, something she didn't usually bother to do in this regeneration, he had noticed, but today she had. She had even tided up some of the paper and books that she had left littering the top of her bedside table and desk. He should have known this was coming after how angry she had been at him earlier about Shockeye, but even still he couldn't help feeling disappointed. He hated to have to say goodbye and it was even worse when it was the Hatter.

The Hatter disappeared back inside her TARDIS and the Doctor decided it was time to get this over and done with now, rather than letting it drag out for another hour or so before the Time Lady eventually came to tell him that she was leaving. He slowly edged into the room and over to the Hatter's TARDIS, raising his hand to knock on the open door.

The Hatter jumped slightly, almost dropping a book she was holding from where she stood within the large, warmly lit console of her time machine in front of one of the large bookcases that lined the wooden panelled walls of the room. She spun around and fixed him with a slightly annoyed look, "You startled me, Doctor," she told him.

"Apologises," the Doctor said sheepishly, knowing instantly that she still hadn't forgiven, "May I come in?" he asked, waving a hand at the doorway.

A small smile crossed her face, almost seeming amused by how polite he was being, so obviously trying not to get on her bad side anymore then he already was, "Of course you can," she said, turning back to face the bookcase as she put the book away, missing the relieved look on the Doctor's face as he entered the room. She turned back around to face him, raising her eyebrows at him, "I should probably mention that I no longer feel like strangling you".

He blinked slightly, even for the Hatter that last remark sounded a little odd coming from her, "Well, that's a relief," he replied after a moment, relaxing slightly, "I'm rather fond of my neck, thank you".

She narrowed her eyes at him, pointing sternly, "But don't think I'll ever forget this," she warned him sharply, making him wince.

"I suppose I deserve that," he sighed, nodding warily.

The Hatter crossed the room and took a seat in her favourite armchair, waving a causal hand towards the second armchair positioned across from hers as she did so. The Doctor, taking the hint, moved across the room and sat in the chair, trying to work out what was coming next. She didn't seem like she was in the mood to lecture him or tell him off again, if anything, she seemed almost tired and for the first time all day he noticed that she had dark circles around her eyes, as if she hadn't been sleeping well recently.

"Yes, you do," the Time Lady agreed, crossing her legs as she absently toyed with the end of the left armrest where the fabric had started to fray after centuries of use.

The Doctor watched the movement before looking back up to her face, frowning deeply in concern, "What is it, Hatter?" he questioned, making her blink at him in surprise, "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think there's anything wrong?"

"Several things. You agreed to go fishing, for starters, something we both know you hate and find terribly boring. You didn't bring your companion…"

"Lily's spending time with her family," the Hatter cut in, shrugging, "And as for the fishing, I thought I would give it another shot".

"We both know that's not true," he shook his head at her, still frowning, "You forget, my dear Hatter, I know you just as well as you know me, and I know when you're hiding something," the Time Lady sighed heavily and looked away from him, only confirming his suspicion even more, "I'm worried about you," he continued, watching her intently, "It's not like you to act so secretive with me, which can only mean that whatever it is that's really going on is very bad".

The Time Lady finally looked at him, "I didn't mean to keep anything from you, you know I wouldn't initially lie or keep something from you unless I had very good reason to do so," she sighed again, suddenly looking even more tired than before, "I just…I didn't want to ruin our trip together and then everything else happened, and I didn't have a chance to bring it up".

"Just tell me".

For a long moment the Hatter remained silent, seeming to be thinking of how to tell him before she took a deep breath and meet his eyes, "For a few months now, I've felt like I've had a ticking clock hanging over my head," she began, "I thought I could ignore it, that if I pretended that it wasn't there I could avoid it, but I know now that I was being foolish. You can't run from something like this, not forever".

"Hatter, you're not making sense," the Doctor shook his head, listening closely to everything she said.

"Just let me finish. I've felt like this before, during my First body, just before I regenerated, so when I felt the same feeling again I knew what was coming".

The colour in the Doctor's face drained away as he stared at his best friend, grim realisation crossing his face, "You're going to regenerate," he said slowly, swallowing slightly.

"I believe so, yes," the Hatter nodded soberly, "I don't know when or how, I just feel like it's going to happen soon, which is why I took Lily home to spend time with her family. It's going to be hard for her, I would rather she have some time to…well, recharge herself before it happens so that she's more emotionally prepared".

"And that's why you agreed to the fishing trip," he remarked as everything made sense.

"Exactly," she confirmed, giving him a slightly guilty smile, "I wanted to make sure that I had one last trip with you before…" she trailed off, noticing the Doctor wince slightly at the thought. She reached across and took his hand, squeezing it.

"Surly there's something we can do…"

The Time Lady shook her head sadly, giving him a comforting smile, "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm tired from running from it. I would rather get it over and done with now," she admitted.

The Doctor sighed heavily, "I can understand that".

Silence fell over them as the Hatter continued to hold his hand tightly, "I was going to tell you," she told him after a moment, looking slightly guilty again.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "Were you?"

She blushed faintly, avoiding his eyes, "Well, I would have tried to, whether I would have actually gone through with telling you is another story. I didn't want to worry you".

"Hatter," his eyes softened as he looked at her, giving her a small smile, "I always worry about you. _Someone_ has to".

"I can take care of myself!"

"Oh, believe me, I'm well aware of that, but that doesn't mean you don't terrify me sometimes with how careless you are about your own safety".

"You're one to talk," the Hatter scoffed at him, letting go of his hand, crossing her arms across her chest.

He laughed and she quickly joined in, uncrossing her arms as their laughter lasted until they were both to breathless to go on, the Time Lady wiping tears away. The Doctor's happiness slowly faded as he looked at her again, "You're leaving, aren't you?" he asked, his voice quieter than normal.

She meet his eyes, her own smile fading, "I'm afraid so, yes".

"You could…" he paused, hesitating as he lowered his eyes, already knowing what the response would be, "…always stay and travel with me".

"And what about Lily?" she raised her eyebrows playfully, "I didn't think the two of you got along very well".

He smiled at her, recalling the less then pleasant first meeting of the Hatter's latest companion that had resulted in him knocking over the girl and snapping at her, "I'm willing to put up with her if it means you stay," he replied in a similar tone as her.

She laughed and shook her head at him, "As compelling as the idea is, I don't think I could do that to Lily," she said before growing serious, "One day, Doctor, you and I will travel the stars together, just as we always said we would, just not this time".

The Doctor tried to keep the smile on his face as disappointment washed over him, and he only just resisted the urge to ask just when that might be. They had spent centuries having the same conversation and he was quickly growing tired of it. He wanted to travel alongside the Hatter, not just on a couple of adventures here and there, but properly. Perhaps he would even find the courage to tell her how he truly felt about her then. He could only hope.

"One day," he repeated quietly, and moving to stand. The Hatter stood, too and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly as he returned the gesture, knowing that it would probably be the last time he would see this version of her, "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?" he whispered in her ear.

The Hatter pulled back slightly, "Not this time, sweetheart," she gave him a weak smile, placing a lingering kiss on his cheek as he closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of her lips on his cheek before she let go of him and stepped back. She cleared her throat and for a moment he thought he caught sight of tears in her eyes, "Be careful, Doctor," she told him sternly.

"You will contact me when…" he trailed off, giving her a pointed look.

"Of course," she agreed at once, nodding, "We'll have a picnic, or something to get to know the new me".

The Doctor swallowed, "Sounds lovely," he commented, forcing himself to walk across to the doors, the Time Lady following close behind him. As he reached doors, he looked back to her, giving her one last smile, "Goodbye, my dear, Hatter".

The Hatter returned the smile, giving him a mock curtsy, "Goodbye, my dear, Doctor".

And with that, he closed the doors and stepped back, watching with a heavy hearts as the Hatter's TARDIS started disappearing, the sound of the engines filling the room before it faded completely, leaving him staring at the blank wall. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes tightly, hoping desperately that what ever happened to her she would be okay.

 _ **And we've finished the Two Doctors and Hatters, I suppose I'll have to set up a poll soon about what Classic episode to do next, but it'll be a little while yet before I do that. Also, I suppose you're wondering when the main story will be updated, well, I'm hoping to get around to doing that very soon, I have been busy writing a different story that I hope to announce properly when I update the main story. It's not a Doctor Who or Sherlock story this time, in fact, it's a part of the DC Universe, a Universe that I have only just got involved in, but I am very excited about it. And yes, it does involve a new OC and time travel. I hope you liked the story and a big thank you to everyone who favorited, alerted, and reviewed :)**_


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